Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid shared a world record 17th 100-plus partnership as India reached a formidable 301 for two at tea on the second day of the second cricket Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur on Monday.
At the break, Tendulkar and Dravid were batting on 89 and 79 respectively as India took a first innings 68-run lead over the home team on a flat Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium pitch which though saw a few balls keeping low.
The Indian duo's 100-plus partnership came after the drinks break in the post-lunch session when Tendulkar also reached his 55th Test fifty in his 164th match, driving past extra cover for a four.
Tendulkar and Dravid's 100-run partnership for the third wicket came in 25.3 overs and included 10 boundaries. The Indian pair now has 17 100-plus partnerships. They went past Australians Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting and the West Indian pair of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes who have 16 such stands.
With the two senior-most Indian batsmen holding forth, the Bangladesh bowlers had to toil hard without any success in the 31 overs they bowled in the post-lunch session which saw the visitors adding 124 runs.
India had added 108 runs from the 25 overs they faced in the morning.
Tendulkar and Dravid cut off any risk and rotated strike by taking mostly singles though they opened up towards the tea break with Tendulkar hitting two consecutive fours off Mahmdaullah Riyad and Mohammad Ashraful.