Captain MS Dhoni and S Hassan at the toss.
So finally the ICC 2011 World Cup has begun.Finally, Team India has managed to seek revenge on Bangla Tigers by defeating them by 87 runs in the opening match of the tournament.
The next target for India is England, when both teams face off on 27 February at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.
Although, it was unlikely that Bangladesh would defeat India, people were still sceptical about the final result considering how unpredictable the game of cricket is. Team India did well to post a huge total of 370, thanks to the blistering Indian opening batsman Virender Sehwag, who scored 175runs off just 140 balls. Giving him perfect company was young lad Virat Kohli, who has been in the form of his life in recent times. He remained unbeaten on 100. Their partnership yielded 203 runs for the 3rd wicket.
Sehwag and his opener at the other end, maestro Tendulkar started off well but the latter was run out on 28 due to a big miscommunication in the middle. It goes without stating that Sehwag would have had to apologize to his senior for this blunder, but I am sure Sehwag's innings which helped his team to post such a mammoth total would have covered up the whole incident. And as we all know Tendulkar has been the most gentle player the game has ever produced.
Opener Sehwag after reaching his century.
Sehwag did not leave any opportunity to go after the Bangla bowlers. He took on each and every one of them. Though he lost Tendulkar and Gambhir at the other end, Kohli's firm presence just made it a touch easier for him to blast his way out in the middle. Many might think he missed out on a double hundred, a record set by his counterpart Sachin Tendulkar against South Africa last year. Sehwag, however, was found struggling with some form of an injury and was forced to call upon a runner in the form of Gautam Gambhir. But this did not deter him to punish the bowlers in his own destructive way.
Kohli pumps the air after reaching his century.
Virat Kohli, as we all know, is turning out to be the brightest future for Team India. His prolific batting just shows the amount of confidence this youngster possesses in himself at the moment. Getting a preference over an equally talented player Suresh Raina is not at all an easy task, but he is making his each presence count. Who can forget his century against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in 2009 and his partnership with Gautam Gambhir which simple snatched the game from the Lankans. India had a big total to chase and had already lost openers Tendulkar and Sehwag quite early in the innings. This player has miles to go.
A couple of interesting features that this match highlighted were as follows:
- The first World Cup 100 this year is by an Indian- Virender Sehwag
- Virat Kohli scored his first World Cup Hundred in the very first match he is given a chance to play in.
The next challenge for Team India is just few days away when they take on the in-form / out-of-form (as you may call it) English players. The England team was on a high after having won the Ashes in Australia but their poor performance in the ODI's has definitely come as a shock to them. But, I am sure they would take no time to bounce back and give some tough time to their opponents.
Team India has already left for Bangalore. Injure woes still continue to haunt the Indian players. Even Tendulkar, to the relief of all of us, managed to clear his MRI scan and had to leave a day later to join his team in Bangalore. Pace bowler Nehra is already benching himself because of an injury. Apparently, Sreesanth's bowling match took a pounding against Bangladesh in the last match. Everything seemed to work well for the team, but Sreesanth. In the only 5 overs that he was allowed to bowl, he ended up conceding 53 runs. It was due to this that Bangla batsmen managed to get off to a flyer. I would say, he did not bowl as poorly as the figures show. It was just brilliant batting by the opposition which made it worse for him and his team.
Bowler Munaf Patel continues to impress.
Munaf Patel, on the other hand, continued to impress one and all by giving his team the much needed breakthrough and ending up with an impressive figures of 4 for 48 of his full quota of 10 overs. It was a bit difficult for me to digest the fact that only one spinner in the form of Harbhajan Singh was included in the side for this game. Taking Piyush Chawla's wonderful performance in the 2 warm up games into consideration, I felt it would have been wise to rope him in instead of an extra pacer, just to carry on the good momentum he was in.
India has started off on a strong note. It is very important for them to carry on in the same league and let go off the negatives that took place in the last game, in the form of some poor bowling and fielding. If we are to put up a consistent performance, it is of utmost importance that our fielding gets in place.
Here's a look at Sehwag's blistering innings against Bangladesh.
Picture Courtesy: cricinfo
Video Courtesy: YouTube
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