After heavy defeat, a lot to ponder

It will be a little complex to accurately describe how Bangladesh performed in their inaugural Test in India, which ended in a 208-run defeat shortly before tea on the fifth day at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. While the Test did go all the way to the fifth day, one cannot actually call it a fighting performance since Bangladesh's top order failed to play a major role in either innings.

One could say that the likes of Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar and Mominul Haque actually missed a brilliant opportunity to do well on a flat deck. All they needed to do was survive the early hour and then they could have unleashed themselves after lunch.

You cannot exactly call it a despicable performance either since they did show some grit in certain sessions. On Day 3, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehedi Hasan Miraz mustered the courage to bat through the entire session after tea. Miraz scored a good-looking half-century and Mushfiqur's 127 was quite flawless.

But then again, these performances make you wonder as to what the result of the Test could have been had at least one of their top order batsmen joined the party.

If they had, then Bangladesh would not have had the herculean task of saving seven wickets on the final day against a top-class attack.

It was bound to be a difficult task and it was. In only the third over of the day, Shakib Al Hasan received a sharp turner as a delivery landed on the footmarks and he could only manage to dab it to the close-in fielder.

Mushfiqur Rahim joined Mahmudullah Riyad and they were looking good until Mushfiqur surprised everyone by getting out against the run of play.

In an attempt to disrupt Ravichandran Ashwin's line and length he regularly went down the track against him. He hit him for a four in the third ball and then attempted to do the same in the very next ball of the 53rd over. He only managed to loop an easy catch to the mid-off fielder.

Losing their key batsman was a big blow. But Sabbir Rahman and Mahmudullah Riyad put in a half-century stand to help the visitors recover and get them past lunch.

After lunch however the ball started turning a bit more and also kept a bit low on occasion. Ishant Sharma, who was steaming in, trapped Sabbir in front in the 71st over and then got rid of Mahmudullah Riyad with a bouncer.

Riyad, who was looking good until then, had made his way to 64 before top-edging the bouncer to fine-leg.

Once Riyad got out, it was only a matter of time before India cleaned up the tail. Ravindra Jadeja, who was getting quite a bit of turn from the rough, got rid of Mehedi Hasan Miraz for 23 and Taijul Islam. Ashwin came back to trap Taskin Ahmed in front to finish the match. Both Ashwin and Jadeja ended with four wickets each.

At the end of it all, one could describe the Test either as a missed opportunity for Bangladesh or as part of a learning curve. Be what it may, there is no doubt that there is plenty of room to improve for Mushfiqur Rahim's men, who return home today at 2:00pm, and set their sights on the Sri Lanka tour next month.