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Chittagong: Sachin Tendulkar saved India the blushes as Bangladesh, derided as an 'ordinary' team by rival captain Virender Sehwag, walked away with the opening day honours in the first Test on Sunday.
The morning session did not give any hint of the impending disaster as India lost six of their top batsmen in the post-lunch period before crawling to 213/8 at stumps, thanks to Tendulkar's unbeaten 76 and a characteristically breezy 52 by Sehwag.
During the course of his 55th Test half-century, Tendulkar also crossed the 13,000 runs mark in the longer format of the game.
At stumps, Ishant Sharma (1) was giving company to Tendulkar after Shahadat Hossain (4/51) and Shakib Al Hasan (4/52) had mowed down the top and middle order.
Sehwag, leading the side in Mahendra Singh Dhoni's injury-forced absence, had earlier derided the hosts as an ordinary side, questioning their ability to take 20 wickets.
Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir (23) gave India a strong start by raising 79 runs for the opening wicket in just 15 overs but the visiting batsmen gifted wickets in a heap in the dramatic post-lunch session, which was extended by half an hour after a 90-minute delayed start due to bad light.
Tendulkar, who was dropped by Imrul Kayes while on 16, made a well-compiled unbeaten 76 from 140 balls with the help of six fours and a six before bad light stopped play.
Playing in their first match after becoming the world number one Test side last month, the Indians had themselves to blame as all their top batsmen, except for Rahul Dravid (4), were out to loose shots on a batting beauty where they lost six wickets in the post-lunch session for 94 runs in 32 overs.
Tendulkar, who hit his 55th half century in his 163rd match, carried the bat through the day as India added 53 runs from 18 overs by losing two wickets. He tried to stitch partnerships but none of team-mates responded.
India, who are aiming to hold on to their hard-earned world number status, will have come up with some inspired performance tomorrow if they want to win this Test against a side ranked ninth in the ICC chart.
Put into bat, India cruised to 63 for no loss in the morning session before the hosts hit back.
Three quick dismissals after lunch pegged India back with stand-in skipper Sehwag, Gambhir and Dravid falling inside five overs after resumption.
Sehwag hit Shahadat for a boundary off the first ball of the post-lunch session and followed it up with two more fours in the same over to race to his 20th half century in his 73rd match. His 50 came from 45 balls with the help of nine fours.
Sehwag was looking good for a big score but he failed to put down a Shakib delivery and Tamim Iqbal took a comfortable catch at the extra cover to the cheers of some 3000 spectators at the 15,000-capacity Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
Two balls later, Gambhir nicked a Shahadat delivery for wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim to take a simple catch.
That brought India's two senior most players, Dravid and Tendulkar, together at the crease. Bangladesh straightaway applied pressure on Dravid by placing fielders at gully and silly point, besides at the slip, when Shakib bowled.
The veteran Indian batsman seemed to be in good touch as he hit a sweetly-timed flick off his pads to the square leg boundary but failed to defend a yorker length delivery by Shahadat as India slumped to 85 for three.
Coming in at the fall of Dravid, VVS Laxman (7) needed 83 runs to become only the fifth Indian batsman to score 7,000 runs but was beaten by Shakib's flight and perished stumped.
Tendulkar too was lucky when he was dropped while on 16 as Imrul Kayes failed to hold an outside edge off Shakib at first slip and it went for a boundary.
Yuvraj Singh (12) lifted Mohammad Mahmadullah for a six but fell in the next over, trying to hit a Shakib full toss.
Brief scores
India: 213 for 8 (Tendulkar 76*, Sehwag 52, Shakib 4-52, Shahadat 4-51)
