ICC Cricket World Cup, 1st Match, Group B: Bangladesh v India at Dhaka, Feb 19, 2011 REVIEW

14.25: The teams are lining up for their national anthems. India are first. And there's a reasonable cheer when it finishes. It pales, absolutely pales, in comparison to the noise at the Shere Bangla after the Bangladesh anthem. Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag punch gloves as they stride to the middle. Shafiul Islam will bowl the first ball of the World Cup. Sehwag will take strike. 14.20 The bowlers who will be under the pump first up will be the Bangladesh quicks, Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain. This will be the first World Cup that Bangladesh have plenty of expectations on them. Can they handle the pressure of a fervent home support? They have a very young squad, the youngest in the World Cup, and the grand old man in the side is Abdur Razzak, who is all of 28 years old. Here's another stat: "There have been five scores over 250 that have been successfully chased in day-night games in Mirpur. The highest ever target chased is 297 by India against Bangladesh in the tri-nation tournament in 2010." Hope you have got your Fantasy teams in place. Some great prizes on offer. It's over here. To all smart phone users, we have our Andriod and iPhone apps over here. 14.10 A good move by Bangladesh choosing to bowl? Especially given what a strong batting line-up India have? Madhu, one of our stats chaps, will be providing us factoids through the game. Here's his first one: "Of 42 matches played in Mirpur, 27 have been won by the team batting second and only 15 by the team bating first. In day-night games, only three out of 16 matches have been won by teams batting first." We have also introduced an over-by-over feature, which will focus more on fans discussions. That's being manned by Nitin Sundar as of now. Head there to join in the conversation. Nitin and me, Siddarth Ravindran, will be alternating between the ball-by-ball and the over-by-over through the game. 14.00 Toss Ravi Shastri is his typically loud self, welcoming the captains. Shakib spins the coin, 'heads' is the call, 'tails' it is. Bangladesh choose to bowl. Shakib says the boys are confident ahead of the big match, he says he'll be happy to chase anything below 260. Mohammad Ashraful left out. Dhoni says he'd have like to bowl first as well, since dew could be a big factor. He's says preparation has been good, though the team has had to travel a bit in the past few days. He says "Ashwin, Chawla, Raina and one other guy won't play". That other guy is Ashish Nehra, who is presumably left out due to a sore back. See above for the XIs of both the teams. Sidharth Monga, one of our chaps at the ground, says the stands aren't full yet due to tedious security checking. 13.55 We saw during the opening ceremony how passionately the people of Bangladesh have embraced this World Cup. The excitement levels are a touch lower than that in India, but not if you see the newspaper headlines. Most of them have front-page banner headlines such as: "Team India seek revenge for 2007 debacle", "Tonight: vengeance", and "Time to put Caribbean nightmare behind". Big cheer from the crowd as the captains make their way for the toss. 13.45 Fifteen minutes to go for the start. There's plenty of stuff on ESPNcricinfo to keep you occupied. Here's George Binoy's preview for the game. In his pitch report, Sunil Gavaskar says that the team batting second may have some trouble since the track is slow, and it could keep low. He also says there's plenty of runs in the pitch as well, history suggests teams winning the toss will choose to bowl first on this venue - the last 12 day-night matches have been won by the team batting second. Have you heard of Mike Horn, the extreme adventurer who has inspired team India? Nagraj Gollapudi has all you need to know about him here. 13.30 The World Cup is upon us. And it kicks off with a tussle in Mirpur between two co-hosts - a much-improved Bangladesh and one of the favourites India. We're still have half an hour to go for the toss, but the stands are already filling up in Mirpur. Bangladesh have already given the World Cup a stirring opening ceremony, can they provide the tournament more buzz with an upset? There can't be any discussion of a World Cup match between Bangladesh and India without talking about this game which Bangla fans will recall fondly. Asked about that game and whether it will play on the minds of the Indian team, MS Dhoni was typically guarded, talking about a 'fresh start' and 'focussing on the future'. Virender Sehwag, on the other hand , was typically forthright, saying that India have a good record against Bangladesh, and that they have lost only one or two games against Bangladesh.
0.1	Shafiul Islam to Sehwag, FOUR, smash. Sehwag rocks on to the back foot and slams a short of a length delivery with disdainful power through cover. That is some start to the World Cup.
0.2	Shafiul Islam to Sehwag, 2 runs, another punch off the back foot through cover point but this time the stroke isn't as powerful so he gets only two
0.3	Shafiul Islam to Sehwag, no run, bouncer and that rose rather high at good pace, Sehwag lets it go
0.4	Shafiul Islam to Sehwag, no run, short of a length again outside off stump and Sehwag hits it hard of the back foot but to the cover fielder this time
0.5	Shafiul Islam to Sehwag, 2 runs, fuller delivery and much straighter, Sehwag flicks the ball in the air but into the gap between mid-on and midwicket
0.6	Shafiul Islam to Sehwag, FOUR, full, wide and the fielders barely move as Sehwag leans forward and with a flowing drive sends the ball screaming to the cover boundary. 12 off the first over. And Tendulkar will now face his first ball of what could be his last World Cup.
End of over 1 (12 runs) India 12/0 (RR: 12.00) V Sehwag    12* (6b 2x4)      Shafiul Islam    1-0-12-0 SR Tendulkar    0* (0b)
Rubel Hossain will share the new ball.
1.1	Rubel Hossain to Tendulkar, no run, a mix-up, Tendulkar dabbed the ball on the leg side and didn't really want the single. Sehwag set off and then turned around rather slowly. The fielder at midwicket missed the stumps at the non-striker's end
1.2	Rubel Hossain to Tendulkar, FOUR, short of a length on middle and leg, Tendulkar jumps back and works the ball off his hips behind square. The fielder at fine leg can't run across to his left in time to save the boundary
1.3	Rubel Hossain to Tendulkar, no run, punched off the front foot towards the bowler
1.4	Rubel Hossain to Tendulkar, 1 wide, full but the line is down leg side, Tendulkar attempts to glance but it's too far down
1.4	Rubel Hossain to Tendulkar, 1 run, good length delivery angling into Tendulkar who dabs the ball towards midwicket and sets off
1.5	Rubel Hossain to Sehwag, FOUR, Sehwag backs away to a short of a length ball and plays a short-arm swat back past the bowler. That ball raced between the bowler and the stumps
1.6	Rubel Hossain to Sehwag, 2 runs, leg-stump line and Sehwag flicks the ball off his hips towards deep square leg
End of over 2 (12 runs) India 24/0 (RR: 12.00) V Sehwag    18* (8b 3x4)      Rubel Hossain    1-0-12-0 SR Tendulkar    5* (4b 1x4)      Shafiul Islam    1-0-12-0
Tendulkar surveys the leg side field
2.1	Shafiul Islam to Tendulkar, FOUR, four more for Sachin, this was easy, a half-volley on the pads, clipped effortlessly past a diving fielder at midwicket
2.2	Shafiul Islam to Tendulkar, no run, much better this, a near yorker on mddle, Tendulkar defends it back to the bowler
2.3	Shafiul Islam to Tendulkar, no run, Tendulkar gets forward and jabs at a back of length ball, bit of an inside edge sends the ball scurrying towards the leg side
2.4	Shafiul Islam to Tendulkar, no run, Shafiul will be feeling a lot better after those three deliveries, defended back towards mid-on
2.5	Shafiul Islam to Tendulkar, FOUR, Shafiul won't be happy with this though, pretty poor bowling, on the pads asking to be picked off, Tendulkar glides it to the vacant fine leg region for four, India are off to a flier here
2.6	Shafiul Islam to Tendulkar, no run, slower delivery to end the over, defended to midwicket
End of over 3 (8 runs) India 32/0 (RR: 10.66) SR Tendulkar    13* (10b 3x4)      Shafiul Islam    2-0-20-0 V Sehwag    18* (8b 3x4)      Rubel Hossain    1-0-12-0
3.1	Rubel Hossain to Sehwag, 1 leg bye, Sehwag tries a Kapil Dev-style Nataraja shot, hit high on the pads by that delivery, ball rolls towards square leg
3.2	Rubel Hossain to Tendulkar, 1 run, on the pads once more, Tendulkar picks up a single by tucking the ball down to deep square
3.3	Rubel Hossain to Sehwag, 1 run, not the best line again from Rubel, keeps pinging the legstump line, helped down to backward square again
3.4	Rubel Hossain to Tendulkar, no run, this is a better line, on middle and off, a shortish ball that Tendulkar stands tall to defend down the pitch
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3.5	Rubel Hossain to Tendulkar, no run, a grunt from Rubel as he delivers that one, the extra effort doesn't translate into much, that ball actually kept low, didn't trouble Tendulkar though, who pushes it back down the pitch
3.6	Rubel Hossain to Tendulkar, 1 run, a single to end the over, a poke to the right of cover gives the Indians time to scamper a run
End of over 4 (4 runs) India 36/0 (RR: 9.00) SR Tendulkar    15* (14b 3x4)      Rubel Hossain    2-0-15-0