Sehwag slams fifty; India cross 100 run-mark

Bellevision Media Network

Mirpur, 19 February 2011: Virender Sehwag became the first Indian to slam a fifty in World Cup 2011 with his signature flamboyant six when he was at 49. Fearless by nature, his form sent tremors down the Bangla camp.

 

Earlier, a terrible mix-up that saw both batsmen at one side of the turf had spelled the end of Sachin Tendulkar’s innings after he dished out 28 runs from 29 balls in his vintage touch.

 

Bangladesh outfit was more than charged up with the lucky bounty served to them by the fault of the two veterans, bringing out Delhi lad Gautam Gambhir to the crease.

 

In the initial ten overs, Abdur Razzak had managed to sneak a couple of tight ones to halt the Indian juggernaut as the world’s best opening duo of Sehwag and Tendulkar looked ominous right from the word go.

 

The duo raced the total past the 50-run mark in the ninth over, effectively rotating the strike as the spinners came in to action. (*This was the 16th fifty-run partnership between Sehwag and Sachin).

 

The high intensity tournament opener saw pressure on the Bangladesh outfit more than the experienced Indians, their bowlers lacking the intensity with the best bats in business starting their office.

 

Bangladesh skipper Shakib al Hasan had won the toss and opted to field first in the opening match of 2011 cricket World Cup against India at Shere Bangla National Stadium.

 

India fielded three pacers and one spinner in their bowling department and have left Suresh Raina, Ashish Nehra, R Ashwin and Piyush Chawla out of their playing eleven.

 

Pitch Report: The straight boundaries are longer than the square boundaries. The wicket is firm, there are a few cracks, but they won`t make much of a difference for an ODI. The wicket will be a bit slow, there will be some turn later on. The team batting second may find it a bit difficult to bat on. There will be some dew as well feels Sunil Gavaskar.

 

Minnows Bangladesh had ensured India`s early exit in the first round of the 2007 edition at the Caribbeans and Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men will be eager to settle the score and kick start their campaign on a positive note.

 

Teams:

 

Bangladesh (Playing XI): Imrul Kayes, Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Shakib Al Hasan(c), Raqibul Hasan, Mahmudullah, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam

 

India (Playing XI): Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni(w/c), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, S Sreesanth