Tigers on prowl: India totters at Chittagong

Tigers on prowl: India totters at Chittagong

Thursday, December 23, 2004 (Chittagong):

India are playing Bangladesh in the first One Day International in Chittagong today.

And the minnows created a flutter, dismissing the top three Indian batsmen in quick succession in the morning.

The tigers then bounced back in the later half of the day, picking up two wickets in consecutive balls.

Debutante wicket keeper M S Dhoni was run out first ball for 0, while Sridharan Sriram was stumped on the previous delivery for 3. Mohammad Kaif on 80, who played the role of the sheet anchor, was then caught and bowled by Nazmul Hussain.

India are 203 for 7 after 46.2 overs, with pace bowlers Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar in the middle.

First blood

Earlier in the day, the hosts tasted first blood after wining the toss and electing to field first.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly edged the second delivery of the match on to his stumps, to be bowled out for a naught. Tapash Baisya was the successful bowler.

The pitch clearly appeared to be offering some assistance to pacers early on.

Ganguly's opening mate, Sachin Tendulkar got an inside edge off a Nazmul Hossain delivery in the 10 the over. He was caught behind for 19.

Yuvraj Singh stroked a flurry of boundaries before he was trapped leg before wicket by Mushfiqur Rahman for 21 in the 12th over, leaving India reeling at 45 for 3.

After the top order collapse, Kaif shared a 128 run partnership with Vice captain Rahul Dravid. But Dravid edged a Mahmud slower delivery to the wicket keeper in the 40th over.

The teams:

M S Dhoni and Joginder Sharma are making their debut for India while Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan have been rested.

India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Sridharan Sriram, M S Dhoni (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Joginder Sharma.

Bangladesh: Habibul Bashar (captain), Khaled Mashud, Rajin Saleh, Khaled Mahmud, Mohammad Rafique, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahman, Tapash Baisya, Nafis Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed and Nazmul Hossain.

Umpires: Alam Dhar (Pakistan), Mehboob ur Rehman

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(With PTI inputs)