Skipper Dhoni guided India to a comfortable win against Bangladesh. Dhoni(101*) and Kohli(91) made a 152 run stand which probided the base for winning the match.

Dhoni was adjudjed the Man of the Match for his unbeaten century.

A commendable performance with the bat, followed by an inspired opening burst wasn’t enough for Bangladesh to pull off a surprise win against India at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. The Indian middle order, led by Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, kept the hopes of the expectant crowd at bay with an ice-cool stand under pressure. For a while in the beginning of the chase, it seemed as if Shakib Al Hasan’s decision at the toss would be vindicated, but the hard realisation hit home that even 296 wasn’t enough to counter an in-form batting unit and a familiar foe called dew.

There was a change in approach and strategy when Bangladesh came out to field. Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan sensed that the best way to keep the Indians quiet would be to take the pace off the ball while it was new and make them work harder for their runs. He introduced his best spinner, Abdur Razzak, in the second over itself to give him as many overs as possible before the dew got worse.

Not that India were handed too many freebies at the other end. Syed Rasel, who bowls slow left-arm medium, focused on line and length and attacked the stumps. Sehwag capitalised
whenever he was given width, taking two boundaries backward of point off Rasel to get the innings going.

But it was a combination of casual running and purposeful fielding which led to the first wicket. A backfoot punch by Sehwag was misfielded by Razzak but the batsmen went ahead with the single. Razzak chased the ball and in one motion and hit the stumps at his end. Sehwag didn’t even bother to dive and he gave himself the marching orders before the third umpire could do so.

Gautam Gambhir chased a delivery from Rubel Hossain shaping away from him and edged to his leg stump. There was further excitement for Bangladesh when Rasel got one to bend back in
and hit Yuvraj’s stumps as he played inside the line. India had lost three within the opening Powerplay and there was a spring in the step of the Bangladesh fielders, with the belief that they could pull it off.

They maintained the stranglehold as Dhoni and Kohli looked to break free. The spinners gave little width and several mistimed shots found the fielders within the circle. Kohli realised that the best way forward was to push the singles and he found an able partner in Dhoni. A couple of misfields at the boundary - one by Tamim Iqbal and the other by Razzak - was just what India needed. Kohli knocked it around and reached a valuable fifty. India need this partnership to keep them going - one mistake will bring Bangladesh right back into the game.

Scores:

Bangladesh : 296/6 in 50 overs
India : 297/4 in 47.3 overs

India won by six wickets