Team India open with a bang

It is a one-dayer axiom of the ‘90s vintage that looks deadlier in the aftermath of the IPL summer of ‘08. Bat first, put up a monster score...

It is a one-dayer axiom of the ‘90s vintage that looks deadlier in the aftermath of the IPL summer of ‘08. Bat first, put up a monster score and wait for an efficient bowling unit to mock at the reply. Of course, you hope as hell that the captain wins the toss, and the wicket is as flat as the nasal tone of the scorer in the Mirpur stadium. It helped that six batsmen who featured in the semi-finals of the recent IPL logged strike-rates of 100 and above when India burst the 12-match win-streak bubble of Pakistan, beating them by 140 runs in the second match of the triangular series.

This is incidentally India’s biggest win against Pakistan — the last being an 87-run rout in 1987. Geoff Lawson had jested after the Bangladesh win that he expected Pakistan to beat India by 150 runs or 9 wickets. But what he seriously intended the next day in a graver voice, also turned into a joke: “It’d be a close game between the evenly-matched sides,” he had said. Humour has its place. An Indo-Pak pre-match press conference just isn’t one, Lawson would learn.

So, Sehwag and Gambhir walked out after Dhoni won the toss, and there was no telling the Shere Bangla National Stadium from the Kotla, where the two had built up a reputation of being the most-feared openers for the Delhi Daredevils. An opening partnership of 155 between the duo was peppered lavishly with a dozen boundaries from Sehwag (89), half that number from Gambhir (62), two spills from Younis Khan and an instance of quick-thinking from Venkatesh Prasad. India’s bowling coach had sent back Sehwag metres from the ropes, when he was walking back after a one-handed attempt that replays showed had been fumbled by ‘keeper Akmal. It took the last over, which yielded just three runs, to bring a smile on the face of Younis Khan — who had twice spilled Gambhir on four and 29 in the slips — the ball seeming hotter than a packful of popcorn each time he let it drop. Even as Gambhir successfully adopted the IPL slash streaking past or over second slip and giving bowlers the charge to hit over long on, Younis had helped with his butter-fingers.

Yuvraj, PK join party

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An asking rate of 6.6 may be gettable in T20, but was going to be stiff in a chase spanning 50 overs. This was after Yuvraj Singh completed a formidable top-three for India with his 54-ball 55 to offer a solid platform for Dhoni, Raina and Pathan to push the score 300 and upwards.

Only a year has lapsed since India landed in Bangladesh after a disastrous World Cup, and there was none of the original trinity — Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly — in that batting line-up on Tuesday. Gambhir and Sehwag, besides carrying over their form from the Daredevils campaign, also ensured that there was no gaping hole at the top in Tendulkar’s absence. This is a young team, assuming a character of its own, but not at the mercy of the big three giving up their spots. While bowling, Praveen Kumar emerged the unlikely hero of the day as India’s opening bowlers complemented their batters, making good use of the 20-minute rains aiding early swing on the wicket.

Piyush Chawla enhanced his reputation, but came in to bowl at a stage when a leg-spinner can appear to be a demon with five heads. For those wondering what happened to the blue vs green battle royale of the 90s vintage, RP Singh went and gave Afridi a half-hug as Pakistan waited for a third-umpire’s referral. He was either catching up — after a two-week break — with his new buddy from Deccan Chargers, or simply knew that this one-sided game would end with his team holding the winners’ cheque.