Deflated Bangladesh clutching at straws

Bangladesh openers Zakir Hasan and Shadman Islam stepped onto the crease with a positive frame of mind yesterday in the second session on Day 3 of the first Test against India, chasing an improbable target of 515, and gave the despondent visitors some respite by taking them to Tea at 56 for no loss.

However, by the time the day's play ended, cut short by almost 10 overs due to poor light and rain, the Tigers found themselves at 158 for four, still 357 runs away from a seemingly impossible target.

It would be disappointing for Bangladesh that despite having enjoyed possibly the best seaming conditions of the match on the opening day, they have not made much more of the contest, especially after seizing their moments to notch a historic series sweep in Pakistan last month.

Zakir and Shadman played their shots, judged the lengths well and attacked with much ease during that little phase of play in the second session after India had declared. Yet, the manner in which they got dismissed in their 30s brought up questions regarding their concentration.

Batting coach David Hemp tried to explain the first innings disaster, when they were bundled out for 149, saying the batters just could not get set.

"I just think that we got tested early on in the innings, in and around the stumps. We are playing against India so they have quality bowling. They are a very confident side playing at home. It was a case of how we match that, so we have to look to score. We asked the batting group to trust their strengths," Hemp said yesterday.

But even after getting in, the two Bangladesh openers threw it away yesterday, with Zakir pushing at a Jasprit Bumrah delivery that he could have left alone and Shadman chipping a Ravichandran Ashwin delivery to mid-wicket, both guilty of losing their concentration.

"We did it [batters getting in] in patches in Pakistan. We will keep talking about it, and keep working on it in practice. We have to get ourselves in first, as that's something we haven't done well enough. If you go back to March [against Sri Lanka], we were not doing well enough. So we are doing that better," Hemp explained.

The condition remains pretty good for batting, but rough patches have developed on the wicket which would inevitable bring spinners Ashwin, who claimed three wickets on Day 3, and Ravindra Jadeja into the play on the penultimate day.

The disappointing batting in the first innings has put the Tigers permanently in the backfoot and India's quality has dictated terms for three days.

Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto scoring some runs with an unbeaten fifty is biggest positive from Day 3 for the Tigers. With six wickets in hand and two days to go, Bangladesh will now have to try and make something positive out of the remainder of the innings.