Bangladesh swift in reply to WI's 527

At one end was Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who took seven-and-a-half hours to make his second Test double hundred. At the other end was Tamim Iqbal, who hit so many boundaries in his 72 that he turned the single into an event. In the end, Bangladesh were halfway towards the follow-on mark, at the cost of their top order.

West Indies didn't lose a wicket in two sessions today, with Denesh Ramdin making a hundred and putting on 296 with Chanderpaul. After Darren Sammy declared with Chanderpaul having equalled his highest Test score, West Indies did lose their bearings for a bit, though, as Tamim, along with Shahriar Nafees briefly, entertained the sparse crowd with a thrill-a-minute show of unrestrained hitting.

Bangladesh tend to regularly indulge in such shows, but they generally prove to be self-consuming in Test cricket. Tamim and Nafees both fell to urges to manufacture outrageous strokes, and it was down to Naeem Islam and Shakib Al Hasan to shut down the thrill store for the evening.

Tamim's first boundary was fortuitous, when a lifter from Ravi Rampaul took the edge and flew over the slip cordon. A similar, and better targeted, snorter soon consumed Junaid Siddique. Then began the Tamim-and-Nafees display. It barely lasted eight overs, fetched Bangladesh 63 runs, 52 of which came in boundaries. The highlight was Tamim's assault on Tino Best, who was punched, pulled and driven for four fours in an over.

The suicidal moments arrived soon enough. After hitting seven fours in his 31, Nafees flailed at one too close to him, and was caught behind off Rampaul. Tamim carried on a while longer and hit Sunil Narine for two sixes in three deliveries before somehow managing to tennis-forehand a short and wide Sammy delivery to short mid-on.

The frenzied action was in stark contrast to the calm manner in which Chanderpaul and Ramdin took West Indies to an imposing score. They batted nearly three sessions, and their near-triple century stand came at a healthy rate of 3.57 runs an over.

Chanderpaul, troubled a few times in the morning by the quicks, but otherwise in control, kept leaving offerings outside off stump, but still managed to outscore Ramdin. Chanderpaul hit fewer boundaries on the day than Ramdin, and went about his job unobtrusively as usual. Singles were picked regularly, deliveries were worked from off through midwicket, and he did enough to let Bangladesh know who was in charge.

What stood about Ramdin's innings was his desire to bat long - he was at the crease for five-and-a-half hours. He did loft the spinners for a few boundaries after getting to his second Test hundred of the year but before that, he had gone through several periods of denial, refusing to go after innocuous stuff from the tiring spinners.

For a side that had conceded 361 on the first day, Bangladesh started promisingly. They restricted the batsmen, and even created a few opportunities, but fortune and consistency continued to desert them. The home side could have had an opening off the second ball of the day when the tireless debutant Sohag Gazi beat Ramdin in the flight. But to sum up Bangladesh's morning, not only did the ball turn past the stumps, it also beat the wicketkeeper.

The second over, bowled by Rubel, held more pointers to the day. Rubel sprayed the first ball down the pads to concede four leg-byes, offered enough width outside off on the fourth to be taken for four to third man and Ramdin's slash eluded gully off the fifth to go for another boundary.

Bangladesh managed to at least slow things down considerably. They did not have any wickets to show for their effort, but a first-session run-rate of 2.71 was evidence enough of how much two well-set batsmen had to work for their runs. However, Bangladesh's fight evaporated after lunch.

One of their fast bowlers, Shahadat Hossain, didn't bowl in the second session, the other, Rubel, bowled just two overs, and Tamim sent down only his fifth over in Tests. Shakib was reduced to bowling flat and wide outside off stump. Gazi ended up sending down 47 overs in his debut.

Chanderpaul motored along at his own pace all day and eventually brought up his double with a dab past point for two in the 143rd over. An over later, Sammy called his men back. The pitch had remained largely sedate, and he would need all the time to enable his bowlers to take 20 wickets. As it turned out, Bangladesh have already gifted him two.