Four centuries with two of them unbeaten! And ofcourse a delectable cameo by Mahendra Singh Dhoni towards the end which is getting to be almost a regular feature lately. And then the Zaheer Khan act to wipe out the Bangladesh top order to add to the batting effort. Rest assured, this match is going to result in that elusive victory for India, maybe within three days into it.

Never mind the opposition. However flat the pitch was and however ineffective the Bangladesh bowling seemed, the biggest point is that at last the Indian team has come up with two full days of consistent high quality cricket. I just can’t recollect the last time that happened.

Anyway, one thing that is so noticeable, with pleasure, is the Dhoni-Kaarthick duel, isn’t it? Obviously both the wicketkeepers are trying to outperform each other and neither wants to let go the India cap. Great…thats awesome news for the Indian team. Gilchrist had once said if he didnt perform well for two games on the trot he would get the feeling the team was just carrying him and he could be ousted out of it any minute. With such intense competition driving the Aussies, no wonder they always perform so well. This competition has almost been absent in the Indian team especially for the wicketkeeper’s slot and this present ‘war of the wicket-keeper’ is damn exciting to say the least!

About the Bangladesh performance all that is evident is how much they need to still progress in test cricket and how little their performance in the World Cup actually suggests about the team. For starters Habibul Bashar’s decision to bowl first was undoubtedly one of the most generous offerings any captain could make to the opposition. Gavaskar’s comment on that is totally on target:

There was no cricketing reason that one can think of for him doing so, for the pitch was flat, and even if there was a bit of cloud cover, his new-ball bowlers were hardly the type who could move the ball in that kind of weather.

And once Bashar made that decision, the rest, as they say, was just history…….

So India have finally conquered Bangladesh. Surely nothing to be excited about, given the quality of the opposition, but definitely a lot to be relieved about! So here is a sigh of relief from me..phew! With the kind of penchant the Indian team happens to have to mess things up right at the end when everything seems to be going on perfectly, what a relief it is to see our guys come through. Three cheers to the Indian team!!

There were moments, I will not deny, even during the final stages of the match, when I felt pretty certain some mess up had to happen, especially when Mashrafe Mortaza was doing a great job undoing the efforts of the cricket ball factories. Thankfully, Sachin Tendulkar came to the rescue yet again picking up Mortaza’s wicket for the second time(hmmm..Sachin can claim a bunny now).

But there was one man who looked just perfect and unstoppable and that was Zaheer Khan! A fiver in the first innings and two quick top order wickets in the second were cracking blows on the Bangladesh spine. And when you realize that that performance came on a flat track with nothing at all for the quickies, it was one hell of an effort by the big man.

So with the three cheers to the Indian team add ten cheers to Zaheer Khan! And twenty more to his huge heart and consistent perseverence. Way ta go Khan Saab……