Depleted India Edge out Bangladesh

India decide to rest Sehwag and opted for the familiar opening pair of Saurov Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar.

However, things started badly for India. After loosing the toss and being sent in to bat, Ganguly, Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh all fell quickly to bring India to 45-3.

Against any other team, this would have been a crisis, but against Bangladesh, it was only a hiccup.

Kaif and Dravid batted with purpose and added 128 runs. The duo batted slowly however, and India was 95/3 halfway through the innings.

Dravid's wicket, at 173-4, brought Sridharan Sriram to the middle. Surprisingly, Sriram had been picked ahead of the more experienced Dinesh Mongia. Unfortunately, he was stumped off of the fifth ball he faced, wasting a big opportunity.

MS Dhoni, the man who many hope will solve India's wicket keeping problems, ran himself out after facing one ball.

Agarkar and Irfan Pathan provided some late fireworks, and India ended on 245.

Bangladesh fought well to compile 234 in reply, Bashar making 65 and Khaled Mashud scoring a rapid 50 off only 39 balls, however, good bowling by Sriram and Harbajan made sure Bangladesh's dismal ODI record stayed intact.

Brief Scores

India 245-8
Kaif 80
Dravid 53
Baisya 2-67
Hossain 2-39

Bangladesh 234-8
Bashar 65
Mashud 50
Sriram 3-43
Agarkar 2-51

India won by 11 runs.


Written by Amit

Posted by James