Bangladesh upset tournament favorites India

Indian skipper Dravid won the toss and chose to bat on a pitch that seemed slightly iffy when Sri Lanka played Bermuda couple of days earlier. Most people were surprised to find Ganguly open with Sehwag but I expected that to happen. And despite Sehwag failing once again, I am not going to criticize the move that much. Sehwag is in the team of 15 people and needs every chance to find his form back. Or Dravid needs to be certain in his mind that he has had his chances and will not play any more in the World cup. With that it mind, I am sure he will play again against Bermuda. The danger then though is that if he fails again, it would mean the other option in Dinesh Karthik will have no match practice whatsoever if needed to play the big games subsequently.

What should be an even greater concern is that inability of Utthappa to play a big knock either. It is well documented that he can play good little cameo's but he needs to assert himself and play a big knock sooner or later.

These things aside, even the experienced duo of Ganguly and Sachin were struggling against some good line and length bowling from Mortaza and Rezel. As always, singles were totally non-existent and there were more than 70 dot balls in the first 13 overs. At the first drinks break, Indians were struggling at 38/2 in 14 overs.

Time to panic?

At the end of 28 overs, Indians were struggling further at 84/4 with Tendulkar and Dravid dismissed. Clearly not the start to the tournament that the Indians would have hoped for. But I still think a bit of sensible play and a good partnership between Yuvraj and Ganguly should easily enable a score of 220 which would be defendable. And if Indians can achieve it, they would still benefit from the work out. But if they don't, I dread to think of the repercussions :).

Total chaos

Things went exactly as they should have with Yuvraj and Ganguly stringing together a wonderful partnership and Indians were at 156/4 at the end of the 43 over with the two batsmen gaining some momentum and scoring a few boundaries. And then it all fell apart completely in a span of 3 overs. Indians lost 5 wickets for just the addition of 3 runs, yes you read me right. Yuvraj was the first to go top-edging a sweep and Ganguly followed immediately, failing once again in his numerous down the track attempts (he used to be the best in dancing down the track to hit a leg spinner over mid on but it never worked today). Then the big one, Dhoni cut straight to short third-man and any hopes of 200 total ended there. But with all the news about how tail enders bat a lot, you still hoped that the bowlers would be able to string together a total of 185 but Harbhajan and Agarkar followed in quick succession for ducks too to leave India at 159/9 with almost 5 overs left to play. How much can Munaf and Zaheer add? Can we get a few lucky runs to score around 175? Indians have won 8/11 matches defending totals between 175 and 200 according to homer, so will it happen again? Keeping fingers crossed.

Indians finish at 191

A good 32 run partnership between Munaf and Zaheer gave India a decent 191 to defend. It looked like they wont have anything more than 160 to defend at one stage but Munaf and Zaheer did will to add another 32 overs and more importantly consume all but 3 balls of the quota of 50 overs. Bangladesh would no doubt be extremely thrilled with this performance and a good batting effort should clearly see the upset of this world cup. But, I hope the Indians come fired up and take a left out of the Bangladesh opening bowlers and a few quick early wickets would make for a great game. In sum though, it was a totally disappointing performance from one of the favorites of the tournament. To put things in perspective, after Ganguly's 66 and Yuvi's 47, the next highest scores were 15* by Zaheer and 15 by Munaf. Even if the bowlers miraculously save the day for India, they have a lot of work to do to make any progress in this tournament.

Zaheer strikes after the opening bowlers were all over the shop

Just when one expected the Indians to take cue from the Bangladesh opening bowlers and bowl a tight line and length in the first few overs, Zaheer and Agarkar were all over the place for the first four overs before Zaheer got one to cut back in beautifully for first strike. The only way Indians are going to win this game is by bowling Bangladesh out and for that, Agarkar needs to bowl much better than he is right now. Zaheer seems to have found some rhythm and is doing a great job but needs support from the other end now. Or maybe its time to switch Agarkar with Munaf early.

And just as I say this, Tamim Iqbal hits Zaheer for two consecutive boundaries, the second an arrogant down the track shot. Makes you wonder how Gangs never connected any despite attempting the same numerous times.

Tamim Iqbal leads the way

Tamim Iqbal cut lose and played some audacious shots to put Bangladesh well and truly in a comfortable position chasing a small total of 192. He scored a wonderful 50, continuously waltzing down the track to hoik the fast bowlers over the in field. Granted that some of them were top edges, but you need to show the desire to take on the bowlers especially when chasing a small target. When he fell to Munaf's persistent delivery in the corridor, Bangladesh were comfortably placed at 69/2 in the 12th over. Can they hold their nerves to bat sensibly from here on? Can the spinners get a few good wickets to pull India back? A wonderful contest is on the cards for sure.

Bangladesh sitting pretty

Unless Bangladesh do something stupid like India and lose 5 wickets in 3 overs, they should be able to nail the remaining 82 runs in 25 overs comfortably. At the half way stage of the innings, they were sitting in a comfortable position at 109/3 with two well settled batsmen in the middle. And with Habibul Bashar and Ashraful to bat still, it is going to a very special effort from some to help India pull this one back. Apart from Munaf, none of the other Indian bowlers really look like taking wickets and this is where Harbhajan's inability to take wickets in ODIs is hurting Indians too.

Bangladesh complete memorable victory

Bangladesh held their nerve to complete a memorable win against India. Considering that they upset New Zealand in the warm up games and given their bowling attack that is well suited to these conditions, it would not surprise me if they make further progress in this tournament as long as their batsmen play consistently. This group is now wide open and assuming Sri Lanka will win their game against Bangladesh, it sets up the final game between India and Sri Lanka as a key encounter which India might have to win convincingly to have a chance. But it was indeed a great day with one big sub-continent team knocked out of the tournament and another one that is going to struggle to progress. What a tournament this is turning out already! We might have Ireland, Bangladesh and I won't rule out Kenya either in the last eight? Awesome :).