Bangladesh romped to a five-wicket victory over India to cause a huge upset in a World Cup Group B match at Queen's Park Oval on Saturday.
Updated at 3:14 am
PORT OF SPAIN (Trinidad): India faced an early exit from the cricket World Cup after suffering a shock five-wicket loss in their opening encounter against Bangladesh at the quadrennial event on Saturday.
Electing to bat, India put on a spineless batting display and witnessed a top and lower order collapse to be bundled out for 191 in 49.3 overs in the Group 'B' one-dayer at the Queen's Park Oval.
Right-arm pacer Mashrafe Mortaza rocked the Indian innings with 4-38 and received adequate support from left-arm spinners Abdur Razzak (3-38) and Mohammad Rafique (3-35).
The Asian minnows, who had defeated New Zealand in a warm-up game before the start of the tournament, then held their nerves to chase down the target and turn the tables on their much superior rivals who had more 2000 ODIs between them.
Opener Tamim Iqbal cracked a sparkling 51 from 53 balls to give the underdogs a solid start. Mushfiqur Rahim (56 not out) and Sakib Al Hasan (53) capitalised on the effort with an 84-run stand for the fourth wicket to see Bangladesh home.
The Indians had themselves to blame for the debacle as they first misread the pitch, inexplicably collapsed to their lowest total against Bangladesh and then dropped a couple of catches to cap an indifferent day on the field.
They might have been restricted for an even less total if not for a composed half-century by former captain Sourav Ganguly.
Ganguly stood tall among the ruins with 66 and put on 85 runs for the fifth wicket with Yuvraj Singh (47) to lead the recovery in the middle overs.
The duo seemed to have provided the platform for a late assault but five wickets for two runs in 15 balls undid their good work.
As it were, India slipped from 157-4 to 159-9 in the space of 15 balls.
India now face an uphill task. They have to win their remaining two matches against Bermuda on March 19 and Sri Lanka on March 23 to avoid elimination and advance to the Super Eight stage.
Bad choice to bat first; poor start and shocking collapse all contributed to India's worst nightmare.
The pathetic score of 191 was way behind their previous low of 214 against their neighbours, recorded in a match in Dhaka in 2004.
Bangladesh put up a virtuoso performance with spectacular fielding and more than brilliant performance from its bowlers, medium-pacers and spinners alike.
New-ball bowlers Mortaza and Syed Rasel applied the screws early on before the life was squeezed out of the Indians by the spin trio of Rafique, Razzaq and Saqibul Hasan.
Dravid opted to field against the grain of thinking in this tournament which suggests chasing is a better option.
India Innings:
Sourav Ganguly c Razzak b Rafique 66
Virender Sehwag b Mortaza 2
Robin Uthappa c Ahmed b Mortaza 9
Sachin Tendulkar c Rahim b Razzak 7
Rahul Dravid lbw b Rafique 14
Yuvraj Singh c Bashar b Razzak 47
Mahendra Dhoni c Ahmed b Rafique 0
Harbhajan Singh b Razzak 0
Ajit Agarkar c Rahim b Mortaza 0
Zaheer Khan not out 15
Munaf Patel c Razzak b Mortaza 15
Extras: (5lb, 8nb, 3w) 16
TOTAL: (all out) 191
Overs: 49.3. Batting time: 210 minutes.
Fall of wickets: 1 6, 2 21, 3 40, 4 72, 5 157, 6 158, 7 159, 8 159, 9 159, 10 191.
Bowling: Mashrafe Mortaza 9.3 2 38 4 (7nb, 2w), Syed Russel 10 2 31 0 (1nb), Abdur Razzak 10 2 38 3, Saqibul Hasan 10 0 44 0 (1w), Mohammad Rafique 10 1 35 3.
Bangladesh Innings:
Tamim Iqbal c Dhoni b Patel 51
Shahriar Nafees lbw b Khan 2
Mushfiqur Rahim not out 56
Aftab Ahmed lbw b Patel 8
Saqibul Hasan c Dhoni b Sehwag 53
Habibul Bashar c Dhoni b Sehwag 1
Mohammad Ashraful not out 8
Extras: (1lb, 8nb, 4w) 13
TOTAL: (for 5 wickets) 192.
Overs: 48.3. Batting time: 207 minutes.
Fall of wickets: 1 24, 2 69, 3 79, 4 163, 5 175.
Did not bat: Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafee Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Syed Russel.
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 9 2 41 1 (2nb,1w), Ajit Agarkar 10 0 41 0 (6nb), Munaf Patel 8.3 1 39 2 (1w), Harbhajan Singh 10 0 30 0, Sachin Tendulkar 3 0 8 0 (1w), Yuvraj Singh 3 0 15 0, Virender Sehwag 5 0 17 2 (1w).
Toss: India, elected to bat.
Result: Bangladesh won by five wickets.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Pakistan, and Steve Davis, Australia.
TV umpire: Ian Howell, South Africa.
ICC Match referee: Allan Hurst, Australia.
Squads:
India: Robin Uthappa, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar,
Rahul Dravid (c), Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni,
Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel.
Bangladesh: Shahriar Nafees, Tamim Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed,
Saqibul Hasan, Habibul Bashar (c), Mohammad Ashraful,
Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur
Razzak, Syed Rasel.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}