Shakib, Shahadat put India in spot

Shakib Al Hasan and Shahadat Hossain shared six quick wickets to put India under pressure in the first Test against Bangladesh here on Sunday.

Left-arm spinner Shakib took 3-28 and paceman Shahadat bagged 3-34 as India slipped from a comfortable 79 for no loss to 160-6 in their first innings at tea on the opening day.

Sachin Tendulkar was unbeaten on 50 at the break, also completing 13,000 Test runs during his 89-ball knock. He was lucky to survive on 16 when Imrul Kayes dropped a catch at first slip off debutant paceman Shaiful Islam.

Amit Mishra was the other not-out batsman on five.

The second session belonged to Bangladesh, who grabbed six wickets for 97 runs in 32 overs.

Shakib provided the breakthrough when he dismissed stand-in captain Virender Sehwag, who uppishly drove the spinner to Tamim Iqbal at short cover after hitting nine fours in his 51-ball 52 for his 20th Test half-century.

Sehwag, unbeaten on 38 at lunch, completed his half-century immediately after the interval when he hammered Shahadat for three fours in an over.

Left-handed Gautam Gambhir (23) fell to a loose shot at the same total of 79, chasing an away-going delivery from Shahadat to be caught behind.

The Bangladeshi paceman struck again when he removed Rahul Dravid (four), who was bowled while attempting to work the ball on the on-side.

Shakib got his second wicket when he had Venkatsai Laxman (seven) stumped by Mushfiqur Rahim, who broke the stumps when the batsman lost balance after inside-edging a delivery on to his pads.

Yuvraj Singh also didn't last long, hitting a Shakib full-toss straight to Rubel Hossain at mid-on after contributing just 12.

Dinesh Karthik fell for a duck, caught by a diving Raqibul Hasan at gully off Shahadat.

Bangladesh skipper Shakib put India in to bat in overcast conditions after the match started 90 minutes late due to fog, but his fast bowlers failed to taste success in the opening hour.

Sehwag, leading the side in the absence of injured Mahendra Singh Dhoni, went for shots early in his knock as he drove Shahadat and then upper-cut Shafiul over the slips for fours.

India earlier suffered a double blow when wicketkeeper-batsman Dhoni (back spasms) and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (stiff neck) were ruled out of the match. They were replaced by Karthik and leg-spinner Mishra.