Bold declaration in vain as Indo-Bangla 1st Test ends in draw

Chittagong, May 22 (UNI) Rahul Dravid's gamble of a sporting declaration in the second innings went in vain as the rain- marred first Test between India and Bangladesh ended in a tame draw here today.

Chasing a target of 250 from 43 overs for an unlikely win, the hosts reached 104 for two from 28 overs before the two sides agreed to stop play. This was after Dravid declared India's second innings at 100 for six at the Chittagong Stadium.

India had a healthy 149 lead from the first innings having declared at 387 for eight and then bowling out Bangladesh for 238 in the Test match in which 15 hours 23 minutes' play was claimed by rains.

Bangladesh began the run chase in a gamely fashion even after Shahriar Nafees went back early to a R P Singh ripper that induced an edge down leg-side with Mahendra Dhoni gloving in nicely.

They maintained the momentum with skipper Habibul Bashar and Javed Omar taking calculated risk. Bashar, who is at the twilight of his career, dazzled today, repeatedly cutting and pulling Zaheer Khan and R P Singh for some fine runs.

Bangladesh's 50 came up in 9.2 overs and it looked like the David would take on the Goliath. Bashar and Omar looked at ease in the face of insipid Indian attack. They soon notched up the 50 runs of their partnership from 69 balls with Omar looking good on 26 and Bashar on 23.

If Bashar was cutting loose at one end with some severe punishment to V R V Singh, who looked toothless throughout the match, Omar was class and conviction driving and hooking anything short of length.

Bashar looked to put on the heat against debutant Romesh Powar and in the process almost gave a catch to RP Singh at long on.

However, he did not learn from his error and was caught at the same place next over for 37 which was laced with six boundaries.

Omar, who was dropped by Powar off his own bowling, reached his 50 sweeping Tendulkar to the fine leg boundary. He hit Powar for a towering six that called the ball to be replaced as it was lost.

Saleh came in and remained not out on seven.

But at the fall of Bashar, both the teams thought that the game was not going to yield any result and settled for a draw with 18 overs remaining.

Earlier, India decided to make the most of the 55 overs allotted on the last day to make a match out of a dead tie and decided to live dangerously. And dangerous it looked as they threw caution to the wind scoring 56 runs from 10 overs bowled to them today.

They came out with the obvious orders from Dravid to accelerate at all cost. Dinesh Karthick was the first to go after a sweetly pulled boundary off Mortaza. He tried the shot one time too many and was caught at square leg playing a false stroke for 22.

The next to go was Tendulkar, cleaned up by Rafique for 31.

Rafique bolwed with tails up and in the space of the next 24 balls picked up Sourav Ganguly caught in the deep off a mistimed pull and Romesh Power giving a sharp catch to Mashud for six.

Seven runs later India declared at 100 for six, leaving Bangladesh to chase 250 from 43 overs at 5.8 runs per over and giving the spectators something to look forward to after rains played hide and seek for the first four days.

Dhoni remained unbeaten on 17 that included a huge six and Zaheer on two.

Rain continued to play spoilsport as the last days' play began three hours twenty minutes late after three inspections by umpires Daryl Harper and Billy Doctrove.

''We will have to wait and see how much the sun and wind help us.

The groundsmen have done a tremendous job and I complement them for their efforts,'' Doctrove said after second inspection before the game resumed at 1400 hrs local time.

Three spells of heavy rain last night has left the ground in absolute mess with mud puddles. The midwicket region on either side of the ground has been badly affected. While the groundstaff used super soppers and rug rollers to improve the ground conditions, the game started sooner than expected.

This is only the fifth draw in the 45 Test matches played by Bangladesh and the first against India. They had lost all the three Tests played previously against their neighbours.

UNI