Light permitting, eight Bangladesh wickets were left with the imposing task of playing out a minimum of 90 overs to save the Chittagong Test, and only an outside chance of getting the 348 runs needed to win it.
Having set Bangladesh an improbable target, thanks largely to Gautam Gambhir's fifth century in five consecutive Tests, India made important breakthroughs in the 18 overs they managed on the fourth evening.
Gautam Gambhir accumulated - at a strike-rate of 90-plus - his fifth century in five Tests, but regular fall of wickets after his dismissal made sure India didn't think of the declaration by tea. Amit Mishra, the nightwatchman, had some fun too, scoring his first Test fifty, but good spells of reverse-swing from Rubel Hossain and Shahadat Hossain post-lunch slowed India down. At tea, India led by 385, and theoretically 126 overs remained in the Test.
Early in the morning, Bangladesh were resigned to having to save the Test, and hardly ever looked like striving for a wicket. The sunniest day of the Test spelled gloom for the hosts; it meant we got a 135-minute first session which produced 137 runs. Gambhir started the day reaching fifty in a 10th straight Test, one short of the record held by Viv Richards. From coming to one within Richards' record to moving to one within Don Bradman's - six hundreds in six Tests, it was an inevitable stroll for Gambhir. Bangladesh gave him one-day fields, and he milked ones and twos as if in the middle overs of a 50-over match.
Mishra, on the other hand, gave up his cavalier approach from the previous evening, and started to play like a proper batsman. It helped that he could afford to stay at the crease and keep working the ball, because the spinners didn't look to draw him forward.
From 46 to 95, Gambhir hit just four boundaries, but kept finding gaps in the spread-out field. Both Gambhir and Mishra were dropped once each on the way to their milestones, Gambhir on 55 by Imrul Kayes, and Mishra on 41 by Shahriar Nafees.
In typical fashion, as with his last four tons, Gambhir brought up the century by stepping out and hitting over the infield. He had for company the holder of the Indian record for most centuries in consecutive Tests, Rahul Dravid. Slightly uncharacteristically, Dravid afforded himself a big laugh and high-fived Gambhir on the achievement.
In an effort to up the rate even more, Gambhir fell for a 129-ball 116, his fifth second-innings century. By then, though, India's lead had reached 234. Shortly before lunch, Dravid ran himself out by plonking his bat in as opposed to sliding it.
An aggressive Rubel turned up after lunch. He got reverse-swing going, bowled at around 140kmph, and mixed in a fair number of bouncers. He got Sachin Tendulkar to edge one in his first over after the interval, and in the next caught him on the crease with an accurate in-coming delivery. Rubel continued to trouble Yuvraj with the bouncers, hit him on the back of the head once, and the most natural method of slowing scoring - taking wickets - started to work.
Yuvraj and VVS Laxman added 41 in close to 10 overs, but Yuvaj got out driving at one in front of his body even before he could open up. Laxman had to be more circumspect once Yuvraj fell, but he pulled out some of the elegant wristy shots, maintaining a strike-rate of close to 70. He even slog-swept twice, top-edging safely once, and connecting the other one properly.
Dinesh Karthik and Zaheer Khan took more risks from the other end, and Bangladesh helped Zaheer by taking the new ball an over before tea. Zaheer obliged by hitting three boundaries in that over.
