Sachin Tendulkar (80) and Sourav Ganguly (82) kept the post-lunch scare, initiated by Tigers' fast bowling pair Mashrafe and Shahadat Hossain, at bay as they built on an unbeaten 163-run fourth wicket stand to put India on a strong 295 for three in 77 overs before stumps were drawn at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium.

Rahul Dravid won the much-desired toss and decided to bat without any hesitation but a braveheart Mashrafe drew first blood to enthral a holiday crowd by cleaning up Wasim Jaffer in the very first delivery to become the first Bangladeshi to take a wicket off the first ball of a Test match.

The right-handed Indian opener shouldered arms to invite an off-cutter, which pitched outside the line, onto his off-stump.

But India skipper Dravid (61) ensured that his side enjoy a good lunch break, which was extended by almost an hour because of a short spell of rain just after the break. Dravid associated in a 124-run second wicket stand with opener Dinesh Karthik, who himself contributed a well-composed 56.

Runs came thick and fast in the first session as Dravid, one of the finest Test batsmen in this era, hardly hesitated to punish the bad deliveries mainly coming from Mashrafe, who was struggling in his first spell before getting back the rhythm.

Dravid reached his 47th Test fifty in only 59 balls with ten sweetly-timed boundaries and his strokeful knock helped his side to finish the first session on 113-1.

But the home side made a fresh start after lunch to pile on the pressure as some disciplined bowling from Mashrafe and left-arm spinner Enamul Haque tested the patience of two settled batsmen.

In the seventh over of the second session Mashrafe gave the much-needed breakthrough with a brilliant back-of-length delivery with Karthik mistiming a pull to the safe hands of Mohammad Ashraful at mid-off.

Vice-captain Ashraful, who led the side in the entire second session in absence of cold-hit captain Habibul Bashar, intelligently brought aggressive Shahadat Hossain in action to utilise the extra bounce and the lanky right-arm paceman justified the decision by removing dangerman Dravid in the first over of his second spell.

Dravid wanted to cut but edged the short ball to wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud who brilliantly held the catch as India slipped to 132-3 suddenly.

The rest of the day was the story of experienced campaigners Tendulkar and Ganguly, who kept cool to keep India on course for a huge total.

Mashrafe finished with 2-64 in 18 overs while Shahadat, who was forced off the ground in the crucial stage due to a knee injury, captured the other wicket conceding 33 runs in his nine overs.

The left-arm spinners failed to penetrate the Indian defence although Enamul showed some character with variation in flight, but they must get better on the second day if they want to stop the Indians' run spree.