 India started off their world Cup campaign on a winning note as they crushed Bangladesh by 87 runs in the first game of the World Cup played at Mirpur. Batting first, India made 370/4 in their 50 overs and thenhad Bangladesh end their innings on 283/9 in their 50 overs.
Bangladesh won the toss and selected to field first. The decision was probably
brought about by the amount of dew that is usually found on the outfield in
the second innings of a game at Mirpur during a day-night fixture.
This meant that the Indians needed to get to a big total to prevent the opposition
from chasing them down. What followed was carnage. 32 came off the first three
overs before the Indians settled down and slowed enough to ensure that there
was no deluge of wickets. Sachin Tendulkar was soon run out after there was
no communication with Virender Sehwag.
That brought Gautam Gambhir to the pitch and the duo added another nice little
stand. Gambhir looked in a much better touch than Sehwag but his innings was
cut short at 39 as India lost their second wicket at 152.
However, that was the beginning of the end for Bangladesh. Virat Kohli
joined Sehwag and the pair blasted the home team bowling out of the park. Runs
were found on both the sides of the wicket as the Indians took the batting Powerplay.
Sehwag got to his century before that and this was followed by his 150 as he
looked to run the Bangladeshis down.
However, an injury to his foot meant that he needed a runner and started to
hit out at the bowling. He got to 175 but was soon dismissed, falling short
of the double century that he could have got to had he stayed throughout the
innings.
In the end, even Kohli got to his century as the Indians posted their third
highest total of World Cup cricket after their 400-plus score against Bermuda
and 373 against Sri Lanka in 1999 World Cup.
In reply, Bangladesh stood not a chance to win the game but they tried really
hard to get there. Imrul Kayes got the side off to a flying start, while the
batting of Tamim Iqbal was good as well. Shakib scored a half century
later but with the asking rate mounting up, Munaf Patel scalped four wickets
and the side fell well short.
Sehwag was the man of the match for his superb innings.
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