|
India ease past
Bangladesh through Gambhir's ton |
Link to
Scorecard
 Gautam
Gambhir helped himself to a 5th One Day hundred
in India's easy 7-wicket win over hosts
Bangladesh in the last league game of the Kitply
Cup. The hosts had put on their best batting
show of the tournament and did bat to their
potential to put up 222. That total was
surpassed by India in just 35.1 overs with
Openers Virender Sehwag (59 from 32 balls with 7
fours and 2 sixes) and Gambhir (107* from 101
balls with 13 fours and a six) firing on all
cylinders for the second time in this short
tournament.
Bangladesh, who had won the toss, decided to
bat first and were in trouble against superb
swing bowling from Praveen Kumar and RP Singh.
India had given rest to Ishant Sharma in this
match and that did help the Tigers from finding
a reprieve after an initial burst from the new
ball. Mohammad Ashraful at no.3 and Raqibul
Hasan at no.4 repaired the damages through a
steady partnership of 76 before the Bangladeshi
Captain became the first international scalp to
off spinner Yusuf Pathan. Ashraful failed to
kick on after getting to a promising 36 which
took him 67 balls. Raqibul on the other hand was
in no mood to throw his hard work away and he
got closer and closer to a dream hundred. But
the youngster in his innings also got struggling
with cramps and a tired pull shot off RP Singh
in the death overs ended his dream. Raqibul fell
making 89 in 117 balls with 5 fours and his
knock provided a respectable total of 222 all
out for the homeside.
India's wicket takers were RP Singh with 3
for 46 and Irfan Pathan with 2 for 48, although
he wasn't all that penetrative. Praveen Kumar
kept his rhythm and swing going well with tidy
figures of 10-1-32-1. Even before Bangladesh
could put their bowling strategies in place,
India had raced away to 85 in the first 10 overs.
Sehwag was in blazing mood while Gambhir was
thinking big. India lost the wickets of Sehwag
and Rohit Sharma (26 from 43 with 1 four and a
six), both getting caught in the deep and Yuvraj
(26 from 33 with a four and a six) playing all
around a yorker. Gambhir, who stayed right till
the end collected the Man of the Match award for
his unbeaten century.
Top of the Page |
Related Links