at Chittagong

before day 4:
India 243 & 122/1 (22.2 ov)
Bangladesh 242
India lead by 123 runs with 9 wickets remaining

India had their task cut out. All they had to do was bat till the lead was around 400, and then declare.

Bangladesh asked themselves, and reckoned that they needed 9 wickets. Skipper Shakib-al-Hassan, one of the ordinary clan, the person who epitomises optimism in third-world-cricketing-countries, rose to the dais and proclaimed that:

“I have decided that we want to win the game, and in order to win the game, we need to take 9 wickets as soon as possible. To do that, I am not going to utilise any textbook strategy, but instead start with the most successful bowlers in the first innings, to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting Indians.

“You are here not as a Cricketer. I mean you are one, but not just a cricketer. You are here not to play cricket, but to prove to the Indians that we are not ordinary.

“We might play less than ordinary cricket, we might bowl rank long hops to a night-watchman, but we are not ordinary.

“The most inspired captaincy decision that I might ever have taken is give you guys this speech. It is not easy, to lead an ordinary team which is not ordinary, add to that the disappointment of losing out of an IPL seat, again!“

I repeat. We are not ordinary. Give me the ball Tamim, you ….err….ordinary opener.

after this, the players were too exhausted to understand what they were going to do next.

As Shakib and Shahadat opened the bowling, followed by the others, the only semblance of a fight came from the Indian batsmen, who were keen to reduce this game to a contest.

Talk about the best taking an initiative to preserve test cricket. Bravo.

After hours of torture to the eyes, which also included Mishra getting a 50, and Gambhir a hundred, his 5th in as many matches, India finally declared at 413/8, setting an improbable 415 for Bangladesh to win.

At the close of play, Bangladesh were 67/2, still needing 348 more to win with a day’s play left. Highly unlikely that a draw will ensue tomorrow, unless bad light takes its toll.

Meanwhile, Shakib, one of the ordinary tribe, proclaimed that he was going into tomorrow with a victory in mind.

If only.