Irfan Pathan produced a devastating spell of seambowling to give India an early control of the first Test against Bangladesh whorelied on their late order batsmen to wriggle out of a complete battingdisaster.
Pathan ripped through the top order to return with acareer-best five for 45 on a truncated opening day's play at the BangabandhuNational Stadium, but the hosts did quite well to recover from a precarious 50-5before folding up for 184 in their first innings.
Young Mohammad Ashraful top scored with a grittyunbeaten 60 while Mohammad Rafique also contributed a useful 47 on a day whichsaw Anil Kumble create history by becoming the highest wicket-taker in IndianTest history.
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Bangladesh owed their total to the 20-year-old middleorder batsman Ashraful, who lifted them from a disastrous 106 for seven at onestage.
The Indian innings will resume tomorrow after GautamGambhir and Virender Sehwag returned to the pavilion without facing a ball dueto poor visibility.
The host batsmen were found wanting in techniqueagainst the swing bowling skills of Pathan who set himself twice for a hat-trickbut was denied on both occasions.
After picking three wickets in the new ball spell,Pathan returned for another destructive spell after tea and struck twice off thelast two balls in his very first over.
Ashraful, who had thwarted his hat-trick attemptearlier, once again rose to the occasion and denied the Baroda paceman his due.
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Pathan's heroic effort, combined with Zaheer Khan's twofor 51, almost denied Kumble his 435th Test scalp before the leg-spinner claimedtwo wickets off successive balls to move past Kapil Dev and became India'sleading wicket-taker.
The diminutive Ashraful, who as a 16-year-old broke therecord for the youngest to score a century on debut against Sri Lanka in2000-01, shared two vital partnerships that formed the backbone of Bangladeshinnings.
Rafique played a cavalier innings at number nine andhis 69-ball 47, studded with eight boundaries, provided the late thrust as thelast five wickets added 134 runs to the total.
Rafique added 65 runs for the eighth wicket withAshraful and his dare devil knock gave some nailbiting moments for SauravGanguly before Kumble stepped in to provide the breakthrough.
Last batsman Mashrafe Mortaza too threw his bat aroundfor some useful runs towards the close under fading light.
The Bangladeshi batsmen proved to be sitting ducksagainst a relentless opening spell by the Indian seamers after Ganguly won hisfirst toss in five Tests this season and put them in on a lively track.
Bangladesh, aiming for their first win in 33 matches,prepared a bouncy track going by their batsmen's better performance abroad onhard wickets.
But any hopes they had of an improved performance inthe first full-fledged series against India were dented after overcast skiesyesterday left enough dampness in the pitch.
The start was delayed by two hours to allow for thepitch to dry enough but the remaining moisture proved to be too helpful forPathan and Zaheer.
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Javed Omar (4) earned the first runs for the hosts witha sweetly time boundary off Pathan in the third over but the right handedopening bat fell in the same over when he shouldered his arms to a delivery thatheld its line after pitching.
Pathan then struck two successive blows in his fifthover as Nafis Iqbal (20) and Rajin Saleh (0) too were found inadequate as theyplayed far too across to the Baroda left arm seamer.
A hush descended when captain and the most successfulbatsman Habibul Bashar (8) pulled Zaheer and found Sachin Tendulkar at backwardsquare-leg.
Khaled Mashud (8) brought up the 50 after the drinksbreak with a boundary behind point but Zaheer's extra bounce snared him twoballs later.
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Pathan and Zaheer bowled 19 overs unchanged to reducedthe opposition to 59 for five.
The hosts were in danger of folding up for their lowesttotal but for some adventurous batting by Manjural Islam and a more refinedknock by Ashraful.
Runs begin to flow more easily with the introduction ofspin as the two added 55 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket much to the joy ofthe holiday crowd.
Ashraful had faced 79 balls and struck four fours forhis 36 while Islam's 23 contained four boundaries and came in 48 balls.
Kumble and Harbhajan Singh looked ineffective as thewicket dried down and offered reliable bounce to the batsmen.
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Ashraful was deft in sweeping the off-spinner whileIslam at the other end drove the slow bowlers with audacity.
Ganguly was forced to turn to his strike bowler Pathanwho responded with a twin strike.
Islam chased a wide delivery for a catch towicketkeeper Dinesh Kaarthick before Mushfiqur Rahman became the fourth batsmanto fall leg to the Indian spearhead.
PTI
