India cruised to an easy eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the second round of the Asia Cup at the Sinhalese Sports Club stadium in Colombo on Wednesday.
Sachin Tendulkar looked like he was getting back to his best with a controlled 82. He was given good support by captain Sourav Ganguly as India won with 11.3 overs to spare.
Earlier, Tendulkar snapped up three wickets as Bangladesh were bowled out for 177. He took three for 35 after 19 year-old left-arm quick Irfan Pathan had done the early damage, taking two wickets in two balls to leave Bangladesh reeling at 10 for two in the third over.
Tendulkar was named Man of the Match for his all-round performance.
Bangladeshi innings
When the Indians stepped on to the field, they knew well enough that it would be an easy game. But their greatest challenge was to guard against complacency. Ganguly's decision to bowl first ensured two things: the Indian bowlers would not take it easy and, two, they would have a chance to regain their confidence in the field.
In many ways, it was also a must-win game for the Indians. Teams in the second phase need a minimum of two victories to get into the final and a game against Bangladesh must surely count for one. There was also the threat of thunderstorms in the days to come and India would not have wanted to leave anything to chance.
Ganguly stuck with a line-up that has brought him much success of late: three pacemen and a spinner. V V S Laxman was back to bolster the batting, with Parthiv Patel getting the boot. Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh came in for Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble, respectively.
For Bangladesh, Faisal Hossain came into the side for injured opener Javed Omar. Manjural Islam Rana returned to the side and Tareq Aziz also got into the playing eleven.
One of India's biggest strengths in recent times has been the ability of the new ball bowlers, Irfan Pathan and Laxmipathy Balaji, to take early wickets and put the opposition on the backfoot. And that is exactly what happened.
In the third over of the day, an in-swinging delivery from Pathan beat Bangladesh skipper Habibul Bashar, found the space between bat and pad, and crashed into the stumps (10 for 1).
Pathan followed it up with a similar delivery that pitched on the middle and straightened to trap new batsman Rajin Saleh plumb in front of his stumps. The umpire upheld the appeal and Bangladesh had lost two wickets in two balls. Pathan was on a hat-trick (10 for 2), but Alok Kapali played out the next delivery safely to deny the teenager.
Balaji, at the other end, was having a torrid time. He had trouble controlling the swing and sprayed the ball around. It didn't help matters when Kapali, on 5, was dropped off his bowling by Laxman at second slip.
With Balaji struggling, one thought Ganguly might have done well to give him a rest and introduce Ashish Nehra into the attack. But the skipper persisted with the Tamil Nadu medium-pacer, introducing Nehra only in the 13th over.
The left-armer struck almost immediately. The fourth delivery of his spell had Kapali (10 off 29 balls) edging a regulation catch to wicketkeeper Rahul Dravid (56 for 3). That ended what proved to be the most fruitful partnership of the innings. Mohammad Ashraful and Kapali had put on 46 runs off 65 balls. When they were at the crease, Bangladesh seemed to be staging a recovery. Ashraful, in particular, was not afraid to play his shots. Without doubt, he is one of their best batsmen.
After 15 overs, Bangladesh were 68 for the loss of three wickets. An amazing 24 extras (23 wides and 1 no-ball) were part of this total.
Faisal Hossain joined Ashraful and batted with a degree of comfort that seemed to suggest that the recovery would continue. But it was not to be.
Harbhajan Singh, playing his first One-Day International since November last year, foxed Hossain (17 off 34) completely. Two well-flighted deliveries were followed by a quicker one that caught the batsman nailed to his crease, plumb in front of the wicket (92 for 4).
For the second time in the innings, Bangladesh suffered a double blow in the same over. Ashraful (35) responded to Khaled Mashud's call for a a suicidal single. The ball was hit quite hard to Yuvraj Singh's throwing hand and the throw thudded into Dravid's gloves. The 'keeper had no trouble whipping the bails off.
With the Bangladeshi top order back in the pavilion, Ganguly took Nehra out of the attack and introduced Tendulkar. If the batsmen thought they could take it easy, they were proved horribly wrong in the 34th over.
Amazingly, it was another double blow for the minnows. Mashud (12 off 24 balls) was beaten by a regulation leg break. The resultant edge was taken by Dravid (117 for 6).
Mohammad Rafique was the next man in. He lasted just three balls before a fastish delivery from Tendulkar, bowling from around the wicket, crashed into his stumps (117 for 7).
From here on it was just a damage limitation exercise for the Bangladeshis. And they managed it quite well. Aided by useful contributions from Manjural Islam (21), Khaled Mahmud (22), and Abdur Razzaq (21), they reached 177 before being bowled out in the 50th over.
The 37 extras conceded by the Indians proved to be the highest single contributor to the Bangladesh innings.
For the Indians, Irfan Pathan was superb and thoroughly deserved the three wickets he claimed. Ganguly must also be pleased with the efforts of Nehra, who looked good, Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar, who also claimed three wickets.
Indian innings
If there were any doubts of an Indian victory, they were dispelled in the first over of the innings as Virender Sehwag and Ganguly tore into Tareq Aziz and slammed 22 runs, the most ever scored in the first over of an ODI innings.
The eventful ten-ball over saw four no-balls and three fours. Bangladesh also claimed the vital wicket of Sehwag off the fifth legal delivery of the innings. But then that's how Sehwag plays. Hit or miss, he tends to go for his shots and one wouldn't want him to change his style for anything the world can offer. On his day, he can be a match-winner. Today was not that day.
Sehwag (16 off 8 deliveries, 3 x 4) went after a delivery that was well outside the off-stump and only hit it to Kapali at point (19 for 1).
There was a long delay before the next batsman, Ganguly, walked in. It almost seemed as if the captain had put his feet up and relaxed after watching Sehwag get off to the blazing start.
But if Bangladesh thought they could make any more inroads, they were wrong.
Sachin Tendulkar and Ganguly took their time settling down, then went about setting up an easy victory for the Indians. The run-rate was slow, but that was only because the two batsmen were finding their feet in international cricket after a long off-season. Nothing the Bangladeshi bowlers bowled troubled either of them.
It was simply a case of there being too vast a gulf in class and talent. The Bangladeshis threw themselves around in the field with great enthusiasm, but it takes more than that to win matches.
Tendulkar was the first to reach his half-century with a swept four in the fine-leg region. He then followed it up with another four over mid-wicket to finally break the shackles. He took 93 balls to reach his 67th half-century in ODIs.
Ganguly, at the other end, was starting to get back to his best as well. He reached his fifty having hit two boundaries and three sixes.
The runs were coming easily and it was a no-contest. One expected the second stage of this tournament to have some keenly contested games, but this match was a disappointment.
Ganguly perished late in the innings with India needing only five runs to clinch victory. The skipper used his feet to Mohammed Rafique in a bid to end the match with a six. But he only found Kapali, who took a good catch at deep mid-wicket.
The partnership for the second wicket between Tendulkar and Ganguly was worth 154 runs (173 for 2).
V V S Laxman wrapped up the innings soon after with a single. Tendulkar remained unbeaten with 82 off 126 balls (10x4, 1x6) and towards the end of the innings looked much more like his old self. India won by eight wickets with 11.3 overs to spare.
The credit for this victory rests mainly with the bowlers. But India must remember that the real tests are still to come.
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