Dravid-Kaarthick on song as India reach 113/1 at lunch

Chittagong, May 18: Indian skipper Rahul Dravid and opener Dinesh Kaarthick rode the crest to take the visitors to 113 for one at lunch on the opening day of the first Test at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium here after Bangladesh pacer Mashraffe Mortaza removed Wasim Jaffer in the first ball of the match.

The duo's partnership is worth the score as Jaffer was gone with India yet to to open their account. However, Dravid and Kaarthick had put on 113 runs from 25 overs going at a healthy rate of 4.5 runs an over to assert India's supremacy.

''The Wall'', as Dravid is often called, built the Indian innings brick by brick after being hastened into the crease in the second ball of the day. The highlight of his innings was that he never allowed the bowlers to steal an advantage over him.

The moment he came into the field he set about the job of culling runs and picked up Mortaza for some special treatment. A pull of the back foot and a leaning cover drive of the front remained two signature strokes of the first hour as the quickee was made to bleed 38 runs of his first five conceeding eight boundaries.

Earlier in the day, Mortaza bowled Wasim Jaffer off the very first delivery from the Hispani Mirjapur end. To the bowler's credit the ball zipped in from outside the off-stick to uproot the right-handers wicket as Jaffer looked predetermined not to offer stroke as he shoulder armed the cherry to bring about his doom.

Dinesh Kaarthick, fresh from his 150-run partnership in South Africa, was a picture of confidence. He began scoring with a sweetly timed boundary off Shahdat Hossain who began from the UCB end.

By the end of the first hour India were on 67 for one with Dravid undefeated on 33 and Kaarthick unbeaten on 30.

At lunch Dravid was unbeaten on 52 and Kaarthick on 54. Later, Bangladesh skipper Habibul Bashar brought in Mohamemd Rafique, his most experienced bowler, to stem the rot, but the Indian and young Kaarthick were in full flow. Rafique was taken off after his five insipid overs produced 23 runs and Mortaza was brought in from the UCB end, but to no effect.

Young Kaarthick, who constantly had a battle of eyeballs going with Mortaza, hit him for the best stroke of the morning session.

The bowler tested him with a bouncer with his second delivery, but Kaarthick repled back in style the next ball with a hit through the covers for two runs and disdainfully spanked the next down the wicket for a boundary.

David reached his 50 off just 67 deliveries with 10 bondaries, while Kaarthick achieved the milestone off 77 deliveries with eight hits to the fence.

The only bowler worth his bread in this morning session was Shahdat Hossain who gave 29 runs for his seven overs and often beat both the batsmen with his nippy out-swingers.

However, the spinners could not have much effect on any of the batsmen as they chose to smite the spin playing early using their footwork to great effect.

Minutes after the players went in for lunch, a downpour brought the heavy covers into play and though the passing cloud was gone after 15 minutes, it was enough to delay the start of the afternoon session.

Following is the scoreboard at lunch on the opening day of the first Test between India and Banlgadesh here today.

India first innings: Wasim Jaffer b M Mortaza 0 Dinesh Kaarthick batting 54 Rahul Dravid batting 52 Extras: (b-1, nb-6) 7 Total: (in 25 overs, for 1 wkt) 113 Fall of wickets: 1/0 (Jaffer) Bowling: Mortaza 9-2-45-1 Shahadat Hossain 7-1-29-0 Mohammad Rafique 5-0-23-0 Enamul Huq (Jr) 4-0-15-0

UNI