Sabbir ton not enough for visitors
Dhawan powers India-A to strong position
Sports Reporter
Sabbir Rahman cracked an audacious century but Bangladesh-A are left in precarious situation on the very first day of the second and last three-day match against India-A yesterday, after the top order faltered yet again. At the close of day one, India-A were 161 for one with Shikhar Dhawan remaining unbeaten on 116. His whirlwind century reduced the deficit to just 61 runs after Sabbirs unbeaten 122 runs guided the visitors to 228 all out from a meager six for four.
Bangladesh-A lost the first three-dayer against Ranji Trophy champions Karnataka by four wickets following a 1-2 defeat in the one-day series and it was their last chance in the India tour to salvage some pride. The India-A fast bowlers- Ishwar Pandey and Varun Aaron dismantled the Bangladeshs heavyweight top order that included Anamul Haque Bijoy, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque and Liton Das. Only Mominul could make just 2 but all other three batsmen were dismissed with naught to leave the side six for four in the face of some devastating bowling show of Aaron and Pandey.
Sabbir counterattacked in style to bail the side out of danger. He was aided by Nasir Hossain who was equally fluent but couldnt sustain long. Another pacer Abhimanyu Mithun took him out to make Bangladesh-A 50 for five as Nasir was out on 32 off 27, hitting seven fours. Sabbir then shared a 132-run partnership with Shuvagata Hom which rescued Bangladesh A from ultimate shamble. Hom made 65 off 95 with nine fours and sixes.
The lower order however couldnt support Sabbir much what was needed the moment but he kept fighting. Off-spinner Jayant Yadav cleaned up Bangladeshi tail amid the resistance of Sabbir who smashed 23 fours and a six in his 131 ball-123. Aaron and Yadav claimed four wickets apiece while Mithun and Pandey took one wicket each. India-A however took the stranglehold of the match thanks to a rapid century of Dhawan who came to bat for the first time after being injured in Sri Lanka tour. He struck 112 ball-116, clubbing 16 fours and two sixes which eventually trumped the century of Sabbir. Shreyas Iyar was on 6 along with him when the bails were drawn for day one.
Abhinav Mukund was the only batsman to be out on 34 after he shared a 153-run partnership with Dhawan to dismiss Bangladeshs chance to rule the match. The openers bated with ease as the Bangladeshi bowlers hardly made any impact. Off-spinner Shuvagata Hom was the only bowler to get some success after he dismissed Mukund at the fag end of the day. The other bowlers of Bangladesh-A were ordinary. The situation however became worsened with fast bowler Rubel Hossain had to leave the field after delivering 2.5 overs. The extent of his injury is yet to be determined till filing of this report. Taskin Ahmed earlier had to be returned home due to side strain.
