After a gruelling home season when Australia romped home with the Border Gavaskar Trophy and South Africa imposed substantial pressure before India finally reigned supreme on the final day, the tour to Bangladesh would have been perceived as a more relaxed anxiety-free outing. Bangladesh have come close to a probable victory only once against Pakistan when Inzamam-ul-Haq steered Pakistan clear of an embarrassing defeat. More than a couple of Indians were lining up eagerly against a less than competitive side with personal milestones for the reckoning. But that still involved concentration and application. But the tour was already in jeopardy even before it began. A security threat received by the high office in Bangladesh put the lives of India's demi-gods under risk. Once again a security scrutiny, like the one before India left for Pakistan, was delegated to visit the venues in advance. After receiving the go-ahead signal, the tour commenced albeit a day late. But that was not the only delay.

The morning of the Test match made a gloomy beginning as the damp pitch forced early lunch. But that did not satiate Irfan Pathan's hunger. He made early in roads into the Bangladesh top order and Bangladesh found it arduous to bat through the remaining two sessions on day one. Mohammad Ashraful is one of Bangladesh's brightest young stars. But he has often been accused of throwing his wicket away rather too cheaply. On this occasion, he redeemed the faith in his talent as he fought valiantly despite the carnage that Irfan Pathan was inflicting on his teammates. Ashraful's brave knock of sixty remained the only consolation for Bangladesh as the team were bowled out for 184. Sourav Ganguly has not had too much luck with the toss but on this occasion, he decided to give his seamers a chance at the slightly damp pitch. Irfan Pathan vindicated his skipper's decision and was picking up lbw victims rather reminiscent of the Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram style. Exactly a year old, Irfan Pathan emerged as India's finest swing bowling prospects with a sterling performance against Australia. His delight was understandable at having reined in his first ever five wicket haul in Tests a year later. Despite surpassing Kapil Dev's 434 Test wickets and becoming India's leading wicket taker, Anil Kumble had to make space for relishing the glory and limelight with the young fast bowler.

If India was expected to simply steam roll past Bangladesh, there were a few tense moments as India lost three wickets without even a hundred against the tally of runs. The Bangladesh bowlers tried with their heart and soul and India's job was far from an easy run making slot machine. But Sachin Tendulkar decided to make most of the lapses in the fielding of the hosts. Dropped twice before reaching the half-century mark, he consolidated with the skipper Sourav Ganguly in a century partnership that saw the Indian skipper notching a fair seventy-one as well. But the batting highlight from the Indian perspective came from an unlikely hero. Zaheer Khan strode to the crease just when it seemed Sachin Tendulkar's hopes of his fourth Test double century was slipping away with nine wickets down. If Bangladesh were hopeful of putting end to the Indian gigantic lead, Zaheer Khan quickly extinguished them, batting in the elite company of the man who equalled Sunil Gavaskar's all time Test record of thirty-four centuries in his 119th Test. And he did it in fine style while helping the ball sail above and beyond the boundaries in sheer disdain. Glen McGrath narrowly missed creating a number eleven record for himself but Zaheer Khan showed he was up for the challenge with a pride bestowing innings of seventy-five, surpassing Richard Collinge's record of sixty-eight for New Zealand against Pakistan back in 1972-'73. The 133 run partnership for the last wicket was the final nail in the coffin as far as the hosts were concerned. India folded on a mammoth 526 and leading comfortably by 342 runs. On the way back to the dressing room, Sachin Tendulkar was cordially congratulated rather magnanimously by none other than Sunil Gavaskar, the baton of batting heroics changing hands from one legend to another.

Already over burdened by the enormous task ahead of them, Bangladesh once again capitulated to the pressure. And yet again Irfan Pathan broke the backbone of the batting order while collecting his second successive five wicket haul in the same Test. Bangladesh practically had no answer to the onslaught they were up against. Bangladesh lost half the side for a mere thirty-six runs and in clear danger of being bowled out before the play time on the third day. Nineteen year old Nafis Iqbal, one half of Bangladesh's opening team, showed grit in scoring a courageous half-century before he became Anil Kumble's lbw victim with Bangladesh just surpassing the century mark.

Manjural Islam Rana and Tapash Baisya hit back with a rear guard action late in the day. While Manjural picked up his maiden Test half-century, the duo's efforts succeeded in only delaying the inevitable with the light fading and dusk descending on Bangladesh who were staring down the barrel. It took India last than half an hour on the fourth day to wrap up the Bangladesh innings on 202 and register a whopping victory by an innings and 140 runs.

While the victory comes as no surprise for India, it certainly was made memorable by the various individual brilliances. Bangladesh are clearly more than a couple of notches down in comparison with the big league hunters and more so in terms of self-belief. But with Dav Whatmore, the man who in the company of Arjuna Ranatunga, transformed similar Sri Lankan fortunes into a force to be reckoned with, Bangladesh would do well to make the most of the wealth that the coach has to offer. Certainly a more determined effort at the top of the batting order will give Bangladesh more impetus to make the match up more competitive. The bowling honours were almost equally shared and while not brilliant, certainly bespoke of a more gutsy effort. Their fielding though was far from impressive. If they want to force the issue a little bit in their favour, their fielding effort has to definitely tell a different story from the demoralizing one at the Bangabandhu Stadium.