Bangladesh finally managed to bat in a manner that most of their fans would have expected out of them on the third day of the second Test match at Dhaka against India. 
Behind by more than 300 runs on the first innings, the Bangladeshis lost a wicket early when Imrul Kayes was caught by a tumbling Dinesh Karthik off Zaheer Khan. However, it was the second wicket stand of 200 runs between the Tamim Iqbal and Junnaid Siddique that brought the hosts back into the game. 
What was so refreshing to watch was the manner in which the two batsmen batted in total contrast to each other. Iqbal was aggressive from the outset and took the Indian attack to the cleaners, where Siddique was content in defending and rotating the strike over. Siddique’s 55 came off 144 balls, whereas Iqbal smashed a 151 off 183 and barely showed signs of slowing down.
However, it was the last fifteen minutes of play that brought the Indians back into the game when the left-arm seamers from Zaheer Khan began to reverse swing. Both the batsmen played shots that they could well have avoided, but a long day’s work could have tired them out, as both edged deliveries to the wicket-keeper to end the day at 228/3; 83 runs behind India with seven wickets standing.
Bangladesh does have a longish batting line-up, but whether they will be able to survive, for starters, the old, reversing ball, and then the new ball – which is only 20 overs away – remains to be seen tomorrow.
Earlier, India had declared their innings at 544/8 after Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Dravid could not bat due to their respective injuries. Dhoni scored 89 and was dismissed at the stroke of lunch to signal the declaration.