Ganguly-Sachin hit tons as India reach 384/6 in rain truncated Day

Chittagong, May 19 (UNI) Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar completed their centuries on the rain truncated second day of the first test to help India reach 384 for six even as Bangladesh made deep inroads scalping three wickets under fading lights at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium here today.

At stumps, M S Dhoni aided by some lusty shots, was batting on 36 and giving him company was veteran leggie Anil Kumble on one.

India scored 89 runs in the 20 overs bowled today.

Mortaza's hopes of completing the job with some early wickets came true today as he along with opening Shahadat Hossain returned Tendulkar and Ganguly cheaply, albeit after both batsmen completed their centuries. Both the Indian batsman fell within a space of 45 runs to bring much-needed relief to the Bangladesh camp.

Ganguly began the day from where he left yesterday, playing with elan as he raced into the nineties. Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar took the new ball in the 82nd over and introduced Shahadat from the UCB end to thwart the flow of runs.

But 'Dada', as he is fondly called, completed his 13th Test century from the overnight score of 82 consuming just 33 balls.

This ton will be heartening for the former skipper as it came after 2005 when he scored his last ton against Zimbabwe. But if he slipped while running a two to complete his half-century, then his century came from a one-handed hook at a bouncer from Shahdat.

It was the ghost of short pitched deliveries that came to haunt Ganguly when he top edged a short pitched delivery of Mortaza to be caught by Rafique running in from mid-off. His innings of 100 was studded with 13 boundies and two sixes.

Two of them were hit today when he pulled bouncers from Mortaza and Shahdat to mid-wicket boundaries with consummate ease to show his control over perfume deliveries. But 11 balls later, the same brought about his peril.

With this a fruitful 189-run fourth wicket partnership with Sachin Tendulkar came to an end.

The little master completed his 36th Test century after last scoring a ton in December 2005 against Sri Lanka.

Tendulkar reached his century with a single to mid-on but perished soon after at 101 off 169 balls with nine hits to the fence. He perished in the same manner as Ganguly mistiming a pull of Shahdat to give an easy catch to Md Ashraful at mid-off.

But as long as it lasted, the innings was a treat to see with some sweetly timed straight drives and a cut off Mortaza having class written all over it. He faced 30 balls today to complete his century.

However, one could not help wondering if the duo had run out of patience throwing their wickets when they could have padded up and taken guard afresh, with hardly any time remaining for the play to end today. The score could have looked much more healthier than 366 for 5.

Debutant Romesh Pawar was gone for seven, cleaned up by Mohammed Rafique, to reduce India further to 381 for six.

The pacers did go for some stick, but they bowled with imagination on a wicket that offered little assistance.

The game was supposed to begin 18 minutes before time to accommodate some of the 13 overs lost yesterday, but ended up beginning at 4.30 in the evening with the hope of 23 overs being bowled if the weather and light held up.

Earlier, the BCCI top brass came to the port city on an invitation by BCB to watch the match. President Sharad Pawar, Secretary Niranjan Shah, Rajiv Shukla and Ratnakar Shetty on their arrival were whisked off to the hotel. Later in the evening, Pawar came to the ground to see the duo complete their centuries.

The match began after four inspection and some industrious work in the field by the curator and his ground staff. They worked on a war footing to ready the ground after some heavy downpour since last night had rendered the conditions unplayable.

The outfield was totally soggy with a heavy underfoot.

But though play began, the rain threat remained with the Met office warning of a signal three sign lashing the city.

UNI