(TOI)
MIRPUR: It was dadagiri of a different kind as Virender Sehwag stood and delivered, the last part of a brilliantly-crafted innings of 175 on virtually one leg, as Team India buried Bangladesh under a deluge of runs in the opening match of the 2011 World Cup at the Shere-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Saturday.
Put into bat by Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan, the Indian innings was powered by the flamboyant Sehwag and a wonderfully-paced unbeaten century by young Virat Kohli. Bangladesh, left with a mountain to climb after India finished with 370 for four, made a bold attempt to chase down the target, but went down fighting by 87 runs.
Tamim Iqbal (70), Imrul Kayes (34), Junaid Siddique (37) and Shakib (55) kept Bangladesh in the game till the half-way stage, but the 'Tigers', who had too much to do, kept falling behind the asking rate before fading out.
Skipper MS Dhoni's decision to play a third pacer, in place of a spinner, almost backfired on him. S Sreesanth, who was drafted into the playing XI at the last moment, ahead of leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, sprayed the ball around and gave away as many as 53 runs in his first five overs. With Zaheer Khan, too not at his best, Bangladesh got off to a flying start. But for Munaf Patel, who finished with four wickets for 48 runs, India would have struggled more on a placid track that eased out considerably after soaking in the early evening dew.
Shakib's decision to field first was obviously prompted by the fact that in the 16 previous D/N ODIs here, the team batting second had won on 13 occasions, but the home team was let down by their two new-ball bowlers --- Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain. The new-ball duo not only bowled too short and wide, but also strayed down the leg side too often to cause any discomfort to Sehwag or Sachin Tendulkar.
Sehwag was the more fluent of the two, but with Shakib pressing left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak into action after just four overs and the ball refusing to come on to the bat, the Indian opener struggled to get his timing right. Sachin looked at complete ease during his 29-ball stay at the wicket which ended in a comical run out with both batsmen at the non-striker's end. It was hardly the maestro's fault, but Sehwag more than made amends for his misdeed.
He tempered his incandescent strokeplay with a fair de gree of caution, drove straight and mostly along the ground, employing occasional cheeky chip shots when the field was up. His association with Gautam Gambhir yielded 83 runs off 75 balls with the latter contributing a run-a-ball 39 before playing all over an innocuous Mahmudullah delivery.
Sehwag, allowed Kohli ample time to settle down by farming the strike and doing bulk of the scoring, but once the youngster found his bearings, he matched the senior pro stroke for stroke to put Bangla bowlers under the cosh.
Sehwag, who has never batted through an ODI innings, narrowly failed to achieve his goal. By the time he fell in the 48th over, India had enough runs on the board to prevent a repeat of 2007.
A gentle flick to the leg off Mahmudullah brought up Sehwag's second hundred in World Cup in the 34th over, and despite calling for a runner after being struck on his knee, Sehwag and Kohli continued to spank the Bangla bowlers, garnering 47 runs from the batting Power Play which was taken in the 35th over.
With Sehwag showing no signs of slowing down even after bettering his personal best score of 146, scored against Sri Lanka in Rajkot in 2009, and and Kohli stepping up a gear or two, Shakib could do little to stop the plunder.
Sourav Ganguly's 183, the highest score by an Indian in World Cup, survived only because the Delhi dasher dragged a wide ball from Shakib on to his stumps, leaving Kohli to notch up his maiden hundred on World Cup debut in the company of Yusuf Pathan.
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score card >>
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| India innings (50 overs maximum) | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR |
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| V Sehwag | b Shakib Al Hasan | 175 | 140 | 14 | 5 | 125.00 |
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| 47.3 91.3 kph, end of an epic from Sehwag, he falls for the same legendary score that Kapil made on a 28 years ago, it was a fullish ball angling into Sehwag, he looked to carve it past point, gets a bottom edge onto the stump,s slight relief for Bangladesh, once again Sehwag can't play out 50 overs. doesn't matter, take a bow Sehwag. 355/3
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| SR Tendulkar | run out (Shakib Al Hasan/†Mushfiqur Rahim) | 28 | 29 | 4 | 0 | 96.55 |
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| 10.5 from Abdur Razzak, a huge wicket for Bangladesh, Sachin Tendulkar is gone after an amateurish mix-up, Tendulkar tucked the ball towards wide mid-on, Shakib at midwicket dived and intercepted it, Tendulkar had sets off for the run immediately, Sehwag was ball watching and didn't respond to the Tendulkar, Tendulkar was also ball watching so both batsmen end up at the same end, Shakib throws the ball to the keeper, who takes off the bails and the crowd go bonkers 69/1
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| G Gambhir | b Mahmudullah | 39 | 39 | 3 | 0 | 100.00 |
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| 23.2 98.2 kph, soft dismissal, softer than a baby's bottom as they say! Gambhir gets a non-descript ball that lands back of a length on leg and middle, and straightens a touch. He looks to work it to the leg side, but was just a little loose in the execution. The ball sneaked through between bat and pad, to disturb the stumps. Mirpur finds its voice again. Interesting dismissal, it seemed to stay lower than Gambhir thought. In hidsight, he should have been on the front foot. 152/2
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| V Kohli | not out | 100 | 83 | 8 | 2 | 120.48 |
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| YK Pathan | c †Mushfiqur Rahim b Shafiul Islam | 8 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 80.00 |
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| 49.6 133.0 kph, that's the end of the innings, Yusuf nicks the final ball to the keeper, India end on 370, though they got only 16 off the final three overs 370/4
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| Extras | (b 1, lb 2, w 16, nb 1) | 20 |
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| Total | (4 wickets; 50 overs) | 370 | (7.40 runs per over) | | | | | |
| | Did not bat Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni*†, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, S Sreesanth, MM Patel |
| Fall of wickets1-69 (Tendulkar, 10.5 ov), 2-152 (Gambhir, 23.2 ov), 3-355 (Sehwag, 47.3 ov), 4-370 (Pathan, 49.6 ov) |
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| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ |
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| Shafiul Islam | 7 | 0 | 69 | 1 | 9.85 | (1nb, 2w) |
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| 49.6 to Pathan, 133.0 kph, that's the end of the innings, Yusuf nicks the final ball to the keeper, India end on 370, though they got only 16 off the final three overs 370/4
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| Rubel Hossain | 10 | 0 | 60 | 0 | 6.00 | (5w) |
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| Abdur Razzak | 9 | 0 | 74 | 0 | 8.22 | (1w) |
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| Shakib Al Hasan | 10 | 0 | 61 | 1 | 6.10 | (3w) |
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| 47.3 to Sehwag, 91.3 kph, end of an epic from Sehwag, he falls for the same legendary score that Kapil made on a 28 years ago, it was a fullish ball angling into Sehwag, he looked to carve it past point, gets a bottom edge onto the stump,s slight relief for Bangladesh, once again Sehwag can't play out 50 overs. doesn't matter, take a bow Sehwag. 355/3
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| Naeem Islam | 7 | 0 | 54 | 0 | 7.71 |
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| Mahmudullah | 7 | 0 | 49 | 1 | 7.00 | (3w) |
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| 23.2 to Gambhir, 98.2 kph, soft dismissal, softer than a baby's bottom as they say! Gambhir gets a non-descript ball that lands back of a length on leg and middle, and straightens a touch. He looks to work it to the leg side, but was just a little loose in the execution. The ball sneaked through between bat and pad, to disturb the stumps. Mirpur finds its voice again. Interesting dismissal, it seemed to stay lower than Gambhir thought. In hidsight, he should have been on the front foot. 152/2
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| Bangladesh (target: 371 runs from 50 overs) | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR |
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| Tamim Iqbal | c Yuvraj Singh b Patel | 70 | 86 | 3 | 1 | 81.39 |
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| 32.1 144.6 kph, and he strikes once more in his first over of the spell, this time off the first ball itself, Tamim looks to thrash a length ball towards the leg side, he makes good contact but the ball flies only as far as Yuvraj Singh, who takes a sharp, low catch at midwicket, end of Tamim's vigil, he wasn't at his best today, getting bogged down early on, but held up one end 188/3
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| Imrul Kayes | b Patel | 34 | 29 | 7 | 0 | 117.24 |
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| 6.5 124.1 kph, If you dropped a pin in Mirpur, you'd hear it in Dhaka. Kayes has played onto Munaf. Back of a length again from Munaf, that's his business area as he gets this to angle across from slightly wide of the crease. Kayes went for the cut, and was almost surprised by the drop in pace. In hindsight, he did not have the room for the cut. Inside edge and it crashes into the stumps. The crowd loses its voice. 56/1
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| Junaid Siddique | st †Dhoni b Harbhajan Singh | 37 | 52 | 1 | 1 | 71.15 |
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| 23.1 70.1 kph, is that a stumping, third umpire is called off, Harbhajan gets the ball to ship away sharply from Junaid, who is beaten as he looks to play on the front foot, Dhoni is an exceptional stumper these days, he's whips off the bails in a jiffy and after several replays the third umpire sends Junaid on his way, much to the Mirpur crowd's disappointment, reward for Harbhajan who has bowled extremely well today 129/2
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| Shakib Al Hasan* | c Harbhajan Singh b Pathan | 55 | 50 | 5 | 0 | 110.00 |
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| 39.4 88.5 kph, Shakib falls. Mirpur is silenced once again. Harbhajan takes the catch and puts it in his pocket. Yusuf makes the only noise emanating from the ground - he roars. Slow delivery, tossed up invitingly on middle and leg, and given the circumstances, Shakib had to go for that. He got under it, but couldn't quite go all the way. Harbhajan set himself up a few yars in from deep midwicket and pouched it. Pocketed it, would be more appropriate 234/4
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| Mushfiqur Rahim† | c sub (SK Raina) b Khan | 25 | 30 | 2 | 0 | 83.33 |
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| 42.3 117.6 kph, Rahim goes. No repeat of the 2007 50 for him. Zaheer lands this slow and full outside off and Rahim again looks to hoist him over the covers. Raina, inside the circle, timed his jump perfectly to haul it back in. 248/5
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| Raqibul Hasan | not out | 28 | 28 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
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| Mahmudullah | b Patel | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
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| 44.3 135.6 kph, Munaf has yorked him. Perfect delivery, if you can land it there, you don't need pace. Munaf doesn't have any pace. Almost no follow through after he delivered that. On the base of the stumps as Mahmudullah backs away and looks to first drive, and then steer, and finally squeeze through the off side. It is not there for any of those shots and pings leg stump. Gone 261/6
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| Naeem Islam | lbw b Patel | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
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| 46.3 123.6 kph, Naeem nailed. How many of you have Munaf in your fantasy team? Raking it in, eh? He does what he does best - keeps it back of a length on off stump. This one keeps low too as Naeem plays all around it, in an attempt to flick. Munaf doesn't appeal as much as direct the umpire to raise his finger. And he obliges. Four for Munaf. 275/7
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| Abdur Razzak | lbw b Khan | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
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| 47.6 135.6 kph, and gone. Easy as it comes, Zaheer has a wicket off his last ball. Length ball on off stump, holds its line and thuds into Razzak's pads as he tries to work it leg side. Would have hit leg 279/8
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| Shafiul Islam | run out (Harbhajan Singh) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
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| 48.3 from Patel, Harbhajan throws down the stumps and Shafiul has to go. Shafiul defends from leg stump, straight to Harbhajan swooping in from wide mid on, and Hasan sent him back. Harbhajan hit the stumps at the batsman's end and it was all over. 280/9
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| Rubel Hossain | not out | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16.66 |
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| Extras | (lb 10, w 13, nb 1) | 24 |
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| Total | (9 wickets; 50 overs) | 283 | (5.66 runs per over) |
| Fall of wickets1-56 (Imrul Kayes, 6.5 ov), 2-129 (Junaid Siddique, 23.1 ov), 3-188 (Tamim Iqbal, 32.1 ov), 4-234 (Shakib Al Hasan, 39.4 ov), 5-248 (Mushfiqur Rahim, 42.3 ov), 6-261 (Mahmudullah, 44.3 ov), 7-275 (Naeem Islam, 46.3 ov), 8-279 (Abdur Razzak, 47.6 ov), 9-280 (Shafiul Islam, 48.3 ov) |
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| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ |
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| S Sreesanth | 5 | 0 | 53 | 0 | 10.60 | (1nb, 1w) |
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| Z Khan | 10 | 0 | 40 | 2 | 4.00 | (4w) |
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| 42.3 to Mushfiqur Rahim, 117.6 kph, Rahim goes. No repeat of the 2007 50 for him. Zaheer lands this slow and full outside off and Rahim again looks to hoist him over the covers. Raina, inside the circle, timed his jump perfectly to haul it back in. 248/5
47.6 to Abdur Razzak, 135.6 kph, and gone. Easy as it comes, Zaheer has a wicket off his last ball. Length ball on off stump, holds its line and thuds into Razzak's pads as he tries to work it leg side. Would have hit leg 279/8
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| MM Patel | 10 | 0 | 48 | 4 | 4.80 |
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| 6.5 to Imrul Kayes, 124.1 kph, If you dropped a pin in Mirpur, you'd hear it in Dhaka. Kayes has played onto Munaf. Back of a length again from Munaf, that's his business area as he gets this to angle across from slightly wide of the crease. Kayes went for the cut, and was almost surprised by the drop in pace. In hindsight, he did not have the room for the cut. Inside edge and it crashes into the stumps. The crowd loses its voice. 56/1
32.1 to Tamim Iqbal, 144.6 kph, and he strikes once more in his first over of the spell, this time off the first ball itself, Tamim looks to thrash a length ball towards the leg side, he makes good contact but the ball flies only as far as Yuvraj Singh, who takes a sharp, low catch at midwicket, end of Tamim's vigil, he wasn't at his best today, getting bogged down early on, but held up one end 188/3
44.3 to Mahmudullah, 135.6 kph, Munaf has yorked him. Perfect delivery, if you can land it there, you don't need pace. Munaf doesn't have any pace. Almost no follow through after he delivered that. On the base of the stumps as Mahmudullah backs away and looks to first drive, and then steer, and finally squeeze through the off side. It is not there for any of those shots and pings leg stump. Gone 261/6
46.3 to Naeem Islam, 123.6 kph, Naeem nailed. How many of you have Munaf in your fantasy team? Raking it in, eh? He does what he does best - keeps it back of a length on off stump. This one keeps low too as Naeem plays all around it, in an attempt to flick. Munaf doesn't appeal as much as direct the umpire to raise his finger. And he obliges. Four for Munaf. 275/7
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| Harbhajan Singh | 10 | 0 | 41 | 1 | 4.10 | (1w) |
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| 23.1 to Junaid Siddique, 70.1 kph, is that a stumping, third umpire is called off, Harbhajan gets the ball to ship away sharply from Junaid, who is beaten as he looks to play on the front foot, Dhoni is an exceptional stumper these days, he's whips off the bails in a jiffy and after several replays the third umpire sends Junaid on his way, much to the Mirpur crowd's disappointment, reward for Harbhajan who has bowled extremely well today 129/2
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| YK Pathan | 8 | 0 | 49 | 1 | 6.12 | (2w) |
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| 39.4 to Shakib Al Hasan, 88.5 kph, Shakib falls. Mirpur is silenced once again. Harbhajan takes the catch and puts it in his pocket. Yusuf makes the only noise emanating from the ground - he roars. Slow delivery, tossed up invitingly on middle and leg, and given the circumstances, Shakib had to go for that. He got under it, but couldn't quite go all the way. Harbhajan set himself up a few yars in from deep midwicket and pouched it. Pocketed it, would be more appropriate 234/4
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| Yuvraj Singh | 7 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 6.00 | (1w) |
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