Rain and Mashrafe Mortaza have been haunting India since they landed in Bangladesh. After Sunday's wash-out had hampered India's charge, Mortaza played a peach of an innings on Monday that further impeded the visitors' ambitions of making a dash for victory.
Indian hopes soard when they reduced Bangladesh to 149 for eight, but an old failing came back to haunt them at an unexpected time. India have always struggled to wipe off the tail-enders and Mortaza and Shahdat Hossain cashed in on that historical weakness to milk a precious 77 runs for the ninth wicket to carry Bangladesh to 238, sill 149 in arrears. India, who declared their first innings closed at 387 for eght, were 44 for two in their second essay at stumps on day four for an overall lead of 193 runs.
Mortaza's innings had a stunning aura of simplicity about it. It was played out of pure instinct. The gravity of the situation never bogged Mortaza down as whenever the Indian bowlers offered him loose deliveries, he punished them with the freedom that can only be associated with a free-spirited village cricketer.

Staunch support
His scored runs at a fast clip and Hossain gave him staunch support as Bangladesh first scaled down the follow-on target of 188 and then ate into the Indian total considerably. It was once again the golden arm of Sachin Tendulkar that gave India the breakthrough; the Mumbaikar castled Hossain with a fast, straight one. Mortaza's vigil too came to an end soon when VRV Singh broke through his defence.
But their partnership had instilled a fresh dose of energy into Bangladesh and they entered the park a determined lot. Wasim Jaffer was the first to feel their aggression. Hossain pitched it short, as he has done often in this Test, and Jaffer attempted a pull while standing in no-man's land only to spoon an easy catch to Habibul Bashar. With that dismissal, Jaffer garnered the unwanted glory of a pair in this Test. He was dismissed by Mortaza off the first ball of the series on Friday.
Rahul Dravid fell to a brilliant catch by Rajin Saleh. The Indian skipper's uppish flick off Hossain was taken by an airborne Saleh at square-leg. His dismissal pushed India to a precarious six for two and it needed the calm presence of Tendulkar and the gutsy Dinesh Kaarthick to stem the rot and end the day without further damage. Tendulkar was impressive as he adopted a positive approach and played with a lot of ease.
The first oart of the day, however, belonged to India when they appeared to make a firm charge towards victory. The sun finally beat down upon the Bir Shreshta stadium in its full splendour and the Indian bowlers exploited the sunny conditions with a lively performance.

Quick wickets
India needed some quick wickets to change the course of the game which at one stage leaned heavily towards a draw, and their bowlers in splendid fashion. While all the Indian bowlers contributed to the team's cause, Rudra Pratap Singh stood out for his hostility and purpose.
The Uttar Pradesh left-arm pace bowler was out of the reckoning after the Champions Trophy and the youngster grabbed the chance which came his away only because of S Sreesanth had to fly back home with a calf strain before the Test series with both hands.
He started the demolition job by trapping Javed Omar in front and followed it up with the wickets of Bashar, whose wretched fortune with the bat stretched to one more day, and Mohammad Ashraful. After their initial waywardness, the other Indian bowlers too woke up to rattle Bangladesh before they recovered through Mortaza and Hossain.
The morning session, which started at 10.00 am IST, did not begin well for India. Anil Kumble did not come out to resume his innings as the Bangalorean was down with high fever and Zaheer Khan walked out with Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
But Zaheer departed soon as he edged Shahdat Hossain to Khalid Mashud behind the stumps. Dhoni too did not last long as he tamely scooped a quicker one from Mortaza to Omar, and Dravid decided to declare the innings at 387 for eight.
That total looked enough to enforce the follow-on, but the onslaught of Mortaza and a couple of early Indian wickets ensured that the final day would throw up high drama.