India comprehensively defeated Bangladesh and laid to rest the ghosts of the previous World Cup encounter at Port of Spain when the latter brought about their exit from the World Cup in 2007. Batting first the Indian team put up a good total of 180 runs at the loss of five wickets. The openers started the innings in a steady manner with Gambhir and Rohit.
Rohit Sharma in the short innings that he played displayed streaks of brilliance with his first drive that raced to the boundary. He hit three boundaries and two sixes in his knock of 36.
He looked at ease, with ample time to play his shots although there were bouts of haste and impulsiveness which surfaced from time to time in his innings. It was one of those that brought his downfall when trying too had to scuttle a ball to the boundary he was bowled by Hasan.
Dhoni and Gambhir played safe with singles but it appeared that Indians were beginning to lose the plot as the run rate had begun to drop and the Indians were just 70 odd runs in the 10th over.
Although a sense of urgency set in, it required the services of ‘Blaster’ Yuvraj Singh’s clinical powerful clean hitting to steer the Indian ship to a respectable total. Yuvraj plundered the Bangladesh bowler as boundaries and sixes rained in the otherwise pale and insipid innings. He hit four mighty sixes targetting the midwicket fence and three boundaries to help India reach a respectable total.
The Bangladeshi batsmen showed some intent with an aggressive display of strokes by the Siddique at the start as he scored 41 runs from 22 balls with three sixes. However, the other batsmen failed to rise to the occasion and the team eventually capitulated to some willy Indian bowling performance from the likes of Pragyan Ojha who spun a web around the batsmen.
He grabbed 4 wickets for a paltry 21 runs and won the coveted Man of the Match award. Apart from Siddique, it was a rather lackluster performance from the ‘Tigers’ who were expected to repeat the Port of Spain performance. But as goes the saying ‘Lightening does not strike twice, the same was displayed by the Indians who won the match with ease.
However, the services of Sehwag were missed at the top of the order, and fans around the world would be praying he recovers soon to give the side the boost with his drives, cuts, and pulls!
