May 23, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 06, 1428

CHITTAGONG (Bangladesh), May 22: The rain-savaged first cricket Test between India and Bangladesh petered into a tame draw here on Tuesday despite a last-minute bid to force an unlikely victory.

Indian captain Rahul Dravid declared his team's second innings at 100-6 to leave Bangladesh a target of 250 in a minimum of 43 overs on the final afternoon at the Ruhul Amin Stadium.

Bangladesh responded to the stiff challenge in front of 15,000 home fans to make 104-2 in 28 overs before the two captains agreed to call off the match with 16 overs yet to be bowled.

Opener Javed Omar remained unbeaten on 52 as the players walked off from a game where 15 hours of the stipulated 30 were lost due to bad weather.

“I thought I would make the last day a bit interesting,” Dravid said of the unexpected declaration.

“If we had got a few early wickets we may have put pressure on them. But they batted well. A draw was the obvious result when so much time is lost in the game.”

Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar said he was happy his team fought well against the experienced Indians.

“We had our moments in the game,” he said. “It was great when we saved the follow-on and then took some good wickets when India batted.

“This match has given us the confidence to do well in the final Test.”

It was Bangladesh's fifth draw in 45 matches since they gained Test status in 2000. They have lost 39 matches and won just one against Zimbabwe in 2005.

Just 20 overs were played on the second day and the entire third day was washed out.

Play began late even on the fifth and final day at 2:00 pm (0800 GMT) after four hours were lost due to damp ground conditions caused by heavy overnight rain in this port city.

India, looking for quick runs after resuming at their overnight score of 44-2, lost four wickets in 10 overs but still managed to add 56 runs.

Left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique picked three of those wickets, removing Sachin Tendulkar (31), Saurav Ganguly (13) and Ramesh Powar (six).

Mashrafe Mortaza, who claimed four wickets and hit 79 in the first innings, dismissed Dinesh Karthik for his only success in India's second knock.

The 23-year-old seamer was later named Man-of-the-Match.

India, who had bowled out Bangladesh for 238 in their first innings, were looking for quick wickets following the declaration, but the continued absence of spin spearhead Anil Kumble due to fever cost them dearly.

Left-arm seamer R.P. Singh provided an early break when debutant Shahriar Nafees was caught behind by wicket-keeper Mahendra Dhoni in the fourth over.

Javed and Habibul fought back for the hosts with a 70-run stand for the second wicket.

Habibul made 37 with the help of six boundaries when he lofted off-spinner Powar to long-on where R.P. Singh was perfectly stationed to take the skier.

Rajin Saleh kept Javed company till the end to ensure there were no further setbacks.

“We obviously missed Kumble because he is a proven match-winner in any conditions,” said Dravid. “He would have bowled well even on this wicket which did not help the bowlers.”

The second and final Test starts in Dhaka on Friday.

Scoreboard

INDIA (1st Innings) 387-8 declared (S.R. Tendulkar 101, S.C. Ganguly 100, R. Dravid 61, K.D. Karthik 56; Mashrafe Mortaza 4-97).

BANGLADESH (1st Innings) 238 (Mashrafe Mortaza 79).

INDIA (2nd Innings, overnight 44-2):

Wasim Jaffer c Habibul b Shahadat 0

K.D. Karthik c Shahriar b Mashrafe 22

R. Dravid c Saleh b Shahadat 2

S.R. Tendulkar b Rafique 31

S.C. Ganguly c Shahriar b Rafique 13

M.S. Dhoni not out 17

R.R. Powar st Dhoni b Rafique 6

Zaheer Khan not out 2

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-2, NB-4) 7

TOTAL (for six decl, 24 overs) 100

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-6, 3-60, 4-64, 5-78, 6-93.

BOWLING: Shahadat Hossain 7-3-30-2 (1w); Mashrafe Mortaza 8-1-36-1 (3nb, 1w); Mohammad Rafique 8-0-27-3; Enamul Haque Jr 1-0-6-0 (1nb).

BANGLADESH (2nd Innings):

Javed Omar not out 52

Shahriar Nafees c Dhoni b R.P. Singh 1

Habibul Bashar c R.P. Singh b Powar 37

Rajin Saleh not out 7

EXTRAS (LB-6, NB-1) 7

TOTAL (for two wkts, 28 overs) 104

FALL OF WKTS: 1-12, 2-82.

BOWLING: Zaheer Khan 7-0-24-0; R.P. Singh 6-0-29-1; V.R.V. Singh 5-1-22-0 (1nb); Powar 7-2-16-1; Tendulkar 3-0-7-0.

RESULT: Match drawn.

UMPIRES: D.J. Harper (Australia) and B.R. Doctrove (West Indies).

TV UMPIRE: Enamul Haque Moni (Bangladesh).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Mashrafe Mortaza.

SECOND TEST: Dhaka, May 25-29.—AFP