DHAKA: A horrible mix-up between Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar saw the latter being run out after the two got India off to a blistering start in Dhaka against Bangladesh in the opening match of the World Cup against co-hosts India at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium. Both batsmen ended up at the non striker’s crease after Virender Sehwag was caught ball-watching as Tendulkar went for a run.
India were 107 for 1 at the end of 16 overs after Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and elected to field, citing the ‘dew factor’ later in the evening. Tendulkar made 28 off 29 balls before Sehwag’s misjudgement got him out. Sehwag on 61 off 50 balls and Gautam Gambhir on 12 off 16 balls were at the crease.
Unusually for a match on a Dhaka pitch, India have picked three seamers in Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and S. Sreesanth, leaving out left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra who is down with a sore back.
Bangladesh have left out middle-order batsman Mohammad Ashraful.
India will be looking for a bit of payback after the Tigers won their league match in the 2007 edition of the World Cup, which saw the bigger South Asian team put up an abject show under Rahul Dravid in the West Indies.
Teams:
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicket-keeper), Raqibul Hasan, Naeem Islam, Mahmudullah, Abdur Razzak, Shafiul Islam, Rubel Hossain.
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicket-keeper), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, S. Sreesanth, Munaf Patel.
