India talk tall after saving the blushes

The tourists wrap up the first Test with a session to spare as Bangladesh fall 113 runs short and Sehwag rubs it in again by re-iterating his pre-match comments.

Virender Sehwag was back to taunting Bangladesh after India cruised to a comfortable 113 run win in the first Test in Chittagong yesterday, reiterating his pre-match claim that Bangladesh were not good enough to take 20 Indian wickets in a match. On the eve of the first Test, Sehwag, who was standing in for the injured MS Dhoni as captain, had raised tensions between the two sides by saying Bangladesh were an "ordinary" side who could not dismiss the star-laden Indian batting line-up twice. The statement almost came back to haunt him as India slipped to 150 for six on the opening day as the Bangladesh bowlers shone. A battling Sachin Tendulkar century, his 44th in Test cricket, gave their innings some respectability and the Indian bowlers later ensured Bangladesh finished one short of their first innings score of 243.

Gautam Gambhir then laid the foundation for India's strong second innings score of 413 for eight, entering the record books along the way as only the fourth batsmen to score five centuries in consecutive Tests. After the win, Sehwag was repeatedly asked about his pre-match statement. He dismissed it a couple of times, before repeating the claim. "No, they can't [take 20 Indian wickets]," he said. "They still didn't get 20 wickets. They bowled well in the first innings because the conditions helped them. "We were charged up after Bangladesh bowled us out under 250 in the first innings. "It's nice to have a win in the pocket. We have to play good cricket and if we do that, we can easily win the next match." After setting Bangladesh a target of 415, India took four wickets in the first session of the final day before Mushfiqur Rahim's century halted their charge.

The visitors eventually won close to tea, with leg-spinner Amit Mishra taking the last three batsmen to finish the game with seven wickets. There were impressive performances from Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, who finished with five wickets each from the match. "The bowlers did a terrific job by not letting them take lead," said Sehwag. "Zaheer and Ishant were outstanding with the new ball. They were quick and got appreciable bounce from the wicket." The Indian pace duo, however, could do little to unsettle Rahim as he raced to his first and the fastest Test century by a Bangladesh batsman. Coming in to bat at 135 for five, he brought much-needed cheer to the home fans with some impressive hits, which included 17 across the ropes and one over it.

The youngest player to figure in a Test match at Lord's when he made his debut there in 2005 as a 16-year-old, Rahim crossed three- figures with his 17th four, off 112 balls. The former Under 19 captain was batting at No 7 when the last of the recognised batsmen Mahmudullah departed leaving Bangladesh tottering at 170 for seven. Rahim, however, refused to cave in. He added 60 for the eight wicket with Shahadat Hossain and was still eight short of his half-century when his partner departed. Rahim responded with three fours in the next over, off Ishant Sharma, and the counter-attack continued till the wicketkeeper was caught at long-off, trying to hit Mishra out of the park. By then he had scored 59 of Bangladesh's final 71 runs and kept India on the field for longer than they had expected. The Bangladesh captain Shakib al Hasan lauded Rahim for his brilliant effort and wished the rest of the batsmen had showed similar defiance. "Rahim played really well, he played some fantastic shots," said Shakib. "He is capable of scoring big. We didn't bat well in the first innings. We thought we had a great chance of taking a lead of 100 runs in the first innings but some rash shots did us in." The Indian batsman VVS Laxman will be returning home from Bangladesh after splitting a finger while attempting to take a catch on the fourth day of the match. He needed 10 stitches on the injury. India will not be calling any replacements.

Meanwhile, the International Cricket Council (ICC) have stopped a 2011 World Cup venue in India from hosting any international cricket until the end of this year after a match was abandoned last month due to a substandard pitch. A one-day international between India and Sri Lanka on December 27 was called off at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium due to a dangerous pitch, and the ICC said yesterday in a statement that they would oversee the work to make it playable. Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium is scheduled to host four World Cup matches. * With agencies

India 243 & 413-8 decl. Bangladesh 242 & (overnight 67-2): Tamim Iqbal c Dravid b Sehwag 52 Imrul Kayes c Karthik b Khan 1 Shahriar Nafees c Sehwag b Sharma 21 Mohammad Ashraful c Dravid b Sharma 27 Raqibul Hasan lbw Sharma 13 Shakib Al Hasan c Sehwag b Mishra 17 Mushfiqur Rahim c Ojha b Mishra 101 Mohammad Mahmudullah c Karthik b Khan 20 Shahadat Hossain b Mishra 24 Shafiul Islam c & b Mishra 8 Rubel Hossain not out 4 Extras: (4b, 3lb, 6nb) 13 Total: (all out, 75.2 overs) 301 Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-47, 3-79, 4-97, 5-135, 6-145, 7-170, 8-230, 9-258, 10-301. Bowling: Zaheer Khan 20-5-90-2 Shantakumaran Sreesanth 12.2-0-53-0 (3nb) Ishant Sharma 15-4-48-3 Amit Mishra 22.2-3-92-4 (3nb) Virender Sehwag 4-1-7-1 Yuvraj Singh 1.4-1-4-0.