Bangladesh made history today by defeating pre-tournament favorite India by 5 wickets in their world cup opener in Queens Park Oval, Trinidad.
Bangladesh bowled out India's star studded batting line up to a modest 191 on a good batting pitch which at the end proved inadequate to restrict Bangladesh, the emerging powerhouse of cricket world. Bangladesh romped to the victory by 5 wickets with 9 balls to spare.
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Bangladesh made the perfect start to overcome Indian challenge when left-handed rookie opener Tamim Iqbal, three days short of his 18th birthday, smashed a 53 ball 51 with 7 boundaries and 2 sixes. He showed brilliant maturity with aggressiveness and balls started to disappear all over the park.
After his departure fellow left hander Sakib Al Hasan (53 of 86 balls) took the charge and formed a match deciding 84 run partnership with wicket keeper Batsman Mushfiqur Rahim (56* of 107 balls). Indian bowling had almost no answer to their calm and assuring batting. Mushfiqur Rahim was promoted to the batting order after early departure of opener Shahriar Nafees and he steered the Tigesr home through scoring the winning run.
With this win, Bangladesh made a significant progress to reach the second round of world cup while India faces a stern challenge to qualify. They must win the remaining two matches against group mate Sri Lanka and Bermuda to remain alive in the tournament.
Bangladesh made Indian batting and bowling ordinary and outperformed India in every discipline of the game.
None of Indian bowlers except Munaf Patel posed any threat to Bangladeshi young batting line up. Munaf removed danger man Tamim and Aftab Ahmed. Patel finished the game with a figure of 39-2. Lately Sehwag chipped in with couple of wickets but it was too late for the Indians.
Bangladesh dedicated this win to fellow Tiger, Manjural Islam Rana who was killed in a tragic road accident on 16 March.
Earlier, Bangladesh restricted India to 191 in their opening match of world cup in Trinidad. Indian long and experienced batting line up had almost no answer to an aggressive and disciplined bowling display from Bangladesh.
Only former captain Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh showed some resistance and scored 66 and 47 respectively to add some respectability to the total. India was all out in 49.3 over. Indian Captain Rahul Dravid won the toss and decided to bat first. Bangladesh took no time to prove the decision wrong when their opening bowler Mashrafee Mortaza removed out of form Sehwag in his second over and in form Robin Uthappa to reduce India to 21-2 in 6.4 overs. Experienced Sachin Tendulkar tried to repair the Indian innings with former Captain Sourav Ganguly. But scoring runs looked one of the most difficult job in the world.
Bangladesh kept the pressure on India with tight bowling and equally inspiring fielding. When Razzak in his first over removed Sachin, Indian hope of making big score looked a far cry. Captain Rahul Dravid tried to steady the Indian innings with a 32 run partnership but eventually fell to Mohammad Rafiq who trapped him LBW in his very first over. In-form Yuvraj joined with Ganguly, they played with caution and posted a vital 85 run partnership in the middle. Once Razzak removed Yuvraj, Indian innings disintegrated immediately. Ganguly was next to follow and then Rafiq and Razzak caused the havoc in the Indian innings as they lost 5 wickets scoring only 2 runs. At one point India was struggling at 159/9 but a 32 run partnership in the last wicket frustrated Bangladesh and add some valuable runs to Indian total.
For Bangladesh, Mashrafee Mortaza was the pick of bowlers with a figure of 4 for 38, Slow left arm spinner duo, Abdur Razzak and Mohammad Rafiq shared the rest 6 wickets with figures of 3-38 and 3-36 respectively.
Bangladesh plays their next match on 21 March against Sri Lanka while India will take on Bermuda on 19 March.
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