Irfan Pathan triggered a stunning Bangladesh collapse to leave India on theverge of an innings victory in the second Test for a 2-0 sweep of the series.
Mohammad Ashraful struck a heroic national record 158 not out to bolsterBangladesh's first innings to 333 all out at tea on Day Three, falling eightruns short of the follow on target in reply to India's 540 all out.
Forced to follow on, left-arm Pathan then grabbed the first five wickets toreduce Bangladesh to 118 for nine and leave the visitors on the verge of aninnings win with two days left.
The 20-year-old Pathan returned figures of five for 32, his third five-wicketinnings haul in a match.
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Anil Kumble got two wickets while Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar gotone wicket each.
The diminutive Ashraful, 20, had held centre stage until then, raising 115runs for the fifth wicket with Aftab Ahmed (43) and marshalling the lower orderwith smaller partnerships.
Ashraful faced 194 balls, smashing all but 50 runs in boundaries to surpasshis 114 on debut as well as Aminul Islam's Bangladesh mark of 145 made againstIndia in 2000.
The 20–year-old middle order batsman, who became the youngest to score acentury on debut four years ago, tore the Indian bowling to shreds withattacking stroke play to notch up his second Test hundred.
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But wickets at the other end kept falling reducing the hosts to 333 in thepost-tea session. Ashraful remained unbeaten on 158.
Bangladesh's first innings folded in the post-tea session. Pathan had MohammadRafique caught by V.V.S. Laxman for 4. Talha Jubair faced just one ball and wassent back to the pavilion by Pathan.
Last batsman Nazrul Hossain was run out by Dinesh Kaarthik.
Kumble (four for 55) proved to be the saviour for the Indians who had a busy dayon the field. Zaheer Khan picked up his 100th scalp to go to the break withfigures of two for 62 from 16 overs.
Pathan was quite ineffective, and although his first spell was relativelyeconomical, the left arm pacer was torn apart when he returned for the secondtime after lunch.
Ashraful was 62 at lunch but his next 38 runs came from only 25 balls, and hemoved from 76 to 100 in just seven deliveries. In all, he scored 24 fours andthree sixes.
Ashraful struck three consecutive fours, including two glorious cover drives,off Pathan. The youngster then reverse swept Harbhajan before clubbing himthrough midwicket to reach his three-figure mark.
Ashraful's knock pummelled the Indians to submission so much so that thenormally combative Harbhajan was reduced to applauding and patting him on theback.
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The middle order batsman's innings provided a rare moment of celebration for thehome supporters who had watched their team be outplayed in all departments ofthe game by the Indians so far in the series.Aftab Ahmed (43) was another batsman who played his shots with audacity.
Ahmed and Ashraful added 115 runs from 156 for the fifth wicket which wascrucial in pushing the Bangladesh's total closer to the follow-on mark of 340.
Kumble broke the partnership with a quicker one to trap Ahmed leg before for 43that came from 72 balls and included five fours and a six off Harbhajan.
Zaheer then rapped Manjural Islam Rana (0) on the pads and seemed to find theright length to tie down the free stroking Ashraful.
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The batsman heaved a sigh of relief when Laxman at square leg grassed his flick.But he was soon back onto attacking mode, sweeping Kumble from outside the offstump.
The Indians by now were so dazed that a thick edge from Ashraful off Pathan wentabegging between Rahul Dravid and Laxman in the slip cordon.
For the first time in the series, Indian captain Saurav Ganguly had to turn toTendulkar but his two overs on either side of lunch cost 12 runs.
The new ball was promptly taken after the 81st over, but that produced more runsfrom the blade.
The 300 came in the 85th over, at a healthy run rate of 3.5, which actuallyhovered around seven when Ashraful and Ahmed were on a blaze.
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The post-lunch session saw 138 runs scored in 27 overs at 5.1 per over.
Ashraful, who crossed 1000-run mark when on 49, also added 70 runs for thefourth wicket with skipper Habibul Bashar (22) and 60 for seventh with KhaledMashud (22).
Mashud also collected 1000 runs in Tests but was unlucky to be adjudge caughtbehind as television replays showed a huge gap between bat and ball.
Agencies
