Brutal Sehwag silences Bangladesh

India overpower Bangladesh by 87 runs in the opening match of the World Cup.

DHAKA:

Virender Sehwag plundered 175 off 140 balls and Virat Kohli hit an unbeaten 100 as India overpowered Bangladesh by 87 runs in the opening match of the World Cup.

The pair added 203 for the third wicket as India piled up 370 for four, the fifth highest World Cup total, after being given first strike by Bangladesh.

Bangladesh made a spirited chase of the daunting target before ending at 283 for nine with opener Tamim Iqbal making 70 and Shakib playing a captain’s knock of 55 off 50 balls in the Group B match.

Munaf Patel picked up four wickets and Zaheer Khan took two, but the Bangladeshi batsmen exposed the limitations of the Indian attack in containing runs on slow wickets.

The result silenced a sell-out stadium crowd of 25,000 and thousands of home fans watching on television, who had expected Bangladesh to repeat the famous win over India in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

Despite the win, India captain MS Dhoni said there was still to be done ahead of their next match against England in Bangalore on February 27.

“In the fielding, we need to contribute more and save around 10 runs,” said Dhoni, who praised Sehwag and Kohli. “When you have lost a couple of wickets, you need to stabilise, and it was nice to see Sehwag and Kohli do that.”

Shakib admitted that loose bowling early in the India innings had cost his side.

“We bowled too many boundary balls. Sehwag took it away, he played really well. Our bowlers were a bit rusty, hopefully they will come back well,” said the captain.

Sehwag narrowly missed his pre-tournament aim to bat out the full 50 overs, just as Sachin Tendulkar had done last year while scoring 200.

He was bowled by Shakib in the 48th over soon after equalling former Indian captain Kapil Dev’s score of 175 not out against Zimbabwe during the World Cup winning campaign in 1983.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20th, 2011.