Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Handshakes all around. A rather bizarre game this. Bangladesh looked the part in the first ten overs or so of their innings, with India's seamers looking distinctly below par. Incredibly Bangladesh did not take a single in that period. Nehra struck with a couple of poor deliveries, and Zaheer kept improving, but it was the spinners who stifled Bangladesh. And then Sehwag came on and blew them away.

India's top order looked rusty - even Gambhir who made runs. Worries for Kohli and Sharma, who let by a good chance to assess the conditions. It won't get any easier against Shoaib, Malinga and co. Dhoni looked solid as always, and in the end, they still won comfortably.

Sanjay: "Dhoni has had his 38th not out innings with a score of 38 not out! no wonder his average is so good." After all, it is the average that distinguishes a good batsman from an average one!

Time for the presentation.

Shakib: "Losing all those wickets in the end was the turning point. Batting was not that difficult on this pitch. After a long time the fast bowlers did well, and that's good for them. We are up for the remaining games."

MS Dhoni: "WELL OF COURSE, if you see most of the senior players they did well, most of them bowled really well. As the game progressed it became really difficult. Good that we batted for half an hour before the break. Spinners won it for us. It is 200% difficult to bat under lights here (commenting on the low lights). Gautam provided a decent start. When he gets a start he normally goes on to get a big one. It is always good to get a bonus point if we can."

Man of the Match - Gautam Gambhir "It was only at the T20 World Cup that I did not do well, there has been a lot of talk about my form. This was a perfect pitch for me to come back on. It was a wicket where you had to graft. If Bangladesh had got 240-260 it would have been difficult. After the start they got we did not think we could keep them down to 160. All the bowlers did well."

Interesting there, Dhoni's comment on batting under lights. Even Malinga mentioned the same yesterday, with Afridi ,missing a couple of balls during the chase. I wonder if it will have a prt to play in the tournament.

On that note, it is time for us to end our coverage of the game. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. On behalf of Cricinfo, this is Nitin Sundar signing off. Bye!

30.4
4
Mashrafe Mortaza to Dhoni, FOUR, and that's the end of that. Dhoni seals it with a neat little flick off the back foot, behind square leg and India have won easily, despite looking unconvincing all day.
30.3
4
Mashrafe Mortaza to Dhoni, FOUR, Dhoni has had enough. Now that he's forced the field to come in thanks to the Powerplay, he just whacks the length ball hard and high enough to clear cover - only just. It burst through the hands of the jumping fielder and still made it to the cover fence
30.2
1
Mashrafe Mortaza to Raina, 1 run, worked away off the hips by Raina to get off the mark
30.2
1w
Mashrafe Mortaza to Raina, 1 wide, much like he did in his first spell, he follows up a good ball with a wide down the leg
30.1
W
Mashrafe Mortaza to Gambhir, OUT, and he's removed Gambhir straight away. He never looked at ease against the fast bowlers, got some runs against the spinners, but still needs some confidence ahead of tougher challenges. This one was a length ball on middle stump and rapped Gambhir, hanging in the crease, in front of middle and leg. He was quite late coming down on it, and it would have taken out middle.

G Gambhir lbw b Mashrafe Mortaza 82 (129m 101b 6x4 0x6) SR: 81.18

Batting Powerplay taken now. Soleh: "A problem with Shakib is that he doesn't seem to like any form of spin except Slow Left Arm which is why he always underuses Mahmudullah." Mortaza comes back on.

END OF OVER:
30 | 9 Runs | IND: 158/3 (10 runs required from 20 overs, RR: 5.26, RRR: 0.50)

  • Gautam Gambhir82 (100b)
  • MS Dhoni30 (43b)
  • Sohrawordi Shuvo4-0-21-0
  • Shakib Al Hasan10-0-49-2
29.6
1
Sohrawordi Shuvo to Gambhir, 1 run, chips out and taps down the ground to long on
29.5
2
Sohrawordi Shuvo to Gambhir, 2 runs, nicely played. Presses forward, rocks back and then creams it between mid off and cover for a couple
29.4
1
Sohrawordi Shuvo to Dhoni, 1 run, works him with the spin into the off side for a single
29.3
0
Sohrawordi Shuvo to Dhoni, no run, Dhoni thinks of leaping out again, but resists the temptation and plays it away from the crease
29.2
1
Sohrawordi Shuvo to Gambhir, 1 run, works this to the left of the bowler for another single
29.1
4
Sohrawordi Shuvo to Gambhir, FOUR, the urgency rubs off on Gambhir who lets rip a smooth cover drive, getting to the pitch, hitting against the spin with minimum fuss along the ground

END OF OVER:
29 | 7 Runs | IND: 149/3 (19 runs required from 21 overs, RR: 5.13, RRR: 0.90)

  • MS Dhoni29 (41b)
  • Gautam Gambhir74 (96b)
  • Shakib Al Hasan10-0-49-2
  • Sohrawordi Shuvo3-0-12-0
28.6
0
Shakib Al Hasan to Dhoni, no run, he's had his adventure for the over, just defends sedately down the track this time
28.5
0
Shakib Al Hasan to Dhoni, no run,
28.4
6
Shakib Al Hasan to Dhoni, SIX, Whump! That's what we want to see Dhoni do when he comes down the track, go through with the full swing and send it flying straight. He was not to the pitch this time, and it was well outside his off stump, so he fore-handed it with disdain into the night.
28.3
0
Shakib Al Hasan to Dhoni, no run, Dhoni leaps out full of intent and dead-bats it, again.
28.2
0
Shakib Al Hasan to Dhoni, no run, defended down the pitch from leg stump line

India 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st37G GambhirV Sehwag
2nd43G GambhirV Kohli
3rd0G GambhirRG Sharma
4th78MS DhoniG Gambhir
5th10MS DhoniSK Raina