Dhoni happy to escape with a tie against England

Bangalore: They could not secure win even after setting a mammoth 339-run target against England but India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is happy to escape with a tie result, as he felt at one stage the English side were looking clear favourites to win the match.
Both the teams scored 338 runs in the group B clash, which was only the fourth tied result in the history of World Cup.

"The way it was going, it seemed England would win it. So happy with the tied result. It (result) may reflect as a win in the (points) table," Dhoni said after the match.

"The way Strauss and Bell were going, it looked it would be all over by 48th over unless Zak (Zaheer Khan) came bowled brilliantly," Dhoni said.

Dhoni though was also disappointed that their attack could not defend such a big total.

"I think so (it`s defendable). If 338 is not enough then perhaps in every match you will have to score 350-360 runs, which will be very tough to do.”

Bengaluru cliffhanger ends in a tie

Chasing a record 338-run total, England fought gallantly and shared honours with hosts India as the match ended in a tie. 

England skipper Andrew Strauss was the hero of the visitors' innings with a captain's knock of 158 off 145 balls, which set the tone of England's chase.

Strauss and makeshift England opener Kevin Pietersen came out with an aggressive intent to kick off England innings after their bowlers were hammered by Indian batsmen led by Sachin Tendulkar's 47th ODI century.

But a rollicking start by England openers was halted by Munaf Patel, who pulled out a stunning reflex catch off his own bowling to send back Pietersen (31).

However, Strauss went from strength to strength and remained uninhibited in his strokeplay to bring up his half century in company with Jonathan Trott, who could only muster 16 runs and fell lbw to Piyush Chawla.

MS Dhoni decided to use Chawla and Harbhajan Singh in tandem inside the bowling powerplay but the spin twins failed to make an impression on the proceedings as Strauss and Bell continued to get a boundary an over to keep England in the hunt.

Strauss brought up a stroke-filled century off just 99 balls to surprise India as England looked set to challenge the gigantic target.

But right when the 170-run stand looked to take the match away from India, Strauss chose to take the batting powerplay in which India took four wickets for just 25 runs.

That proved to be the turning point of the match as Zaheer Khan bowled a magnificent spell to dismiss 'Man of the Match' Strauss, Bell (69) and Paul Collingwood (1).

Wickets continued to tumble until Tim Bresnan (14) hit Chawla for two sixes to bring the match in balance; however, Chawla bowled him out in the same over.

Needing 14 runs off the last Munaf Patel over, Ajmal Shahzad hit a six out of nowhere to stun the crowd into silence. Two runs were needed from the last ball, off which Swann could hit only one run, which ended the match in a tie.

However, India's performance in the field and bowlers' failure to defend such a big total put serious question marks over India's 'favourites' tag in this World Cup. Even Zaheer Khan, who was the most successful Indian bowler with four wickets, went for 64 runs.

Munaf Patel and Piyush Chawla took two wickets each but gave away 70 and 71 runs respectively.

In the field, beside a number of slip-ups, Harbhajan dropped a half chance to dismiss Strauss early in his innings and Virat Kohli dropped Bell in the slips. Harbhajan returned with one wicket for 58 runs.

England were powerless to stop Sachin Tendulkar piling up his fifth ICC Cricket World Cup hundred in India's mammoth 338 all out at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Tendulkar (120) lost his dangerous opening partner Virender Sehwag relatively early to Tim Bresnan (five for 48) but then shared stands of 134 with number three Gautam Gambhir (51) and 56 for the third wicket with Yuvraj Singh (58).

India's master batsman brought up a series of personal and team landmarks with sixes on the way to his 98th international hundred, creating the impression he was able to clear the ropes almost at will.

But he had to settle for an eighth four, deflected off his hip to fine-leg off Bresnan, with which to complete his 47th one-day international hundred from the 103rd ball he faced.

By the time he was finished, chipping a leading edge to cover off James Anderson, Tendulkar had 10 fours and five sixes in an already daunting total after India had won the toss in this day-night Group B fixture.

His innings, at a compact venue which simply could not contain his strokeplay, was full of the expert wristy placement and clean timing which has made Tendulkar unarguably one of his sport's all-time greats.

Among England's sufferers, Anderson fared appreciably the worst - recording England's most expensive World Cup figures of 9.5-0-91-1, in the biggest total they have conceded in any edition of this tournament.

With Stuart Broad unavailable, back at the team hotel because of a stomach upset, Anderson endured a morale-sapping first over.

He might have had Sehwag three times, as the opener somehow chipped and edged unconvincing shots just out of the fielders' reach.

Instead, Anderson conceded eight wicketless runs. India were immediately off to a flier, and the omens were bad for England from the outset.

Sehwag continued with his instinctive aggression until Bresnan, in his first over after replacing Ajmal Shahzad at the north end, got the breakthrough.

Sehwag tried to guide a little width from a short ball down to third-man but did not get quite enough bat on it and was well-caught by a diving Matt Prior.

Prior could get his gloves nowhere near a half-chance for a catch when the advancing Gambhir, on 14, edged one from Swann that went quickly on with the arm and resulted in four lucky runs to fine-leg.

But the impressive Bresnan then distinguished himself by bowling a maiden to Tendulkar as England all too briefly exerted a modicum of control.

The second-wicket stand, the highest on this ground, was largely unblemished - broken only when Graeme Swann found sharp turn from a good length to defeat Gambhir's attempted steer and disturb the off bail.

Thanks to Tendulkar's departure, India lost a little momentum as the batting powerplay brought only 32 runs.

But the respite did not last long for England, until Bresnan hit back with three late scalps in four balls to finish with a maiden five-wicket haul on the day before his 26th birthday - and then India were bowled out one delivery short of their entitlement thanks to two run-outs in the 50th over.

Even so, Yuvraj had added his team's third half-century from only 46 balls and shared a stand of 69 with his   captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to help plunder 91 in a hectic last 10 overs.

Boom boom Afridi turns it on for Pakistan

New Delhi: The mercurial but dynamic Shahid Afridi lead from the front as Pakistan won their crucial Group A clash against Sri Lanka by 11 runs at Colombo on Saturday.

After the batsmen piled on the runs to take Pakistan to 277/7 in their 50 overs, Afridi starred with the ball to claim 4/34 which just about settled the issue in his team's favour.

The Lankan openers Tillakratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga had taken the score to 76 in the 15th over, when Afridi took a sharp catch to dismiss Tharanga as off spinner Mohammad Hafeez picked up his first and only wicket of the night.

Afridi then came on to bowl and struck straightaway to send back a well settled Dilshan who chopped one on to his stumps for 41.

Thilan Samaraweera was beaten by a classical leg break from Afridi to be stumped by Kamran Akmal and Sri Lanka were tottering at 96/4 in the 22nd over.

Afridi brought himself back into the attack to get the wickets of his opposite number Kumar Sangakkara and followed it up by getting rid of Angelo Mathews which turned out to be the final nail in the coffin for Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh score dramatic win over Ireland

Dhaka: Bangladesh stung flat-footed Ireland to resurrect their World Cup campaign with a 27-run victory in front of some 25,000 boisterous home fans on Friday.

Bangladesh, bowled out for 205 after taking first strike in the day-night match, hit back to dismiss the leading non-Test nation for 178 in 45 overs at the packed Sher-e-Bangla stadium.

Former captain Mohammad Ashraful, who scored just one run, turned an unlikely hero with the ball by claiming two top-order wickets with his part-time off-spin.

Skipper Shakib Al Hasan also picked up two wickets with left-arm spin before seamer Shafiul Islam polished off the tail in quick time with 4-21 from eight overs.

Bangladesh, who had lost their first match to India last week, lapped up the pressure in a game they had to win to stay in contention for the quarter-finals from Group B.

Kevin O'Brien slammed three fours and a six in 37 during a sixth-wicket stand of 41 with Andre Botha when he pulled Shafiul to mid-wicket to reduce Ireland to 151-6 in the 37th over.

Shafiul, who had recovered in time from a shoulder injury to play the key match, claimed three of the last four wickets to send Ireland crashing.

Earlier, seamer Andre Botha picked up three wickets and George Dockrell and Trent Johnston claimed two each to bowl out the hosts in 49.2 overs.

The hosts made a blistering start, racing to 49 without loss by the end of the fifth over, 37 of those runs coming from the blade of Tamim.

But the advantage was soon lost as four wickets fell for 33 runs in the next 10 overs.

Man of the match Tamim, who top-scored with 70 against India, began by taking 10 runs in Boyd Rankin's opening over and stroked seven boundaries in his 44 off 43 balls.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Raqibul Hasan lifted the hosts with a 61-run stand for the fifth wicket, before tailender Naeem Islam boosted the total with a defiant 29 towards the end.

Clinical Aussies decimate NZ by 7 wickets

Nagpur: Defending champions Australia dished out a clinical display to outplay Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand and notch up a comprehensive seven-wicket victory with 16 overs to spare in a group A game of the World Cup here on Friday.

Ricky Ponting's boys raised their game and proved to be a far superior side in each and every department. This was Ponting's 24th consecutive victory as Australian captain in World Cups.

With a modest target of 207 to chase, Australian openers Shane Watson (62) and Brad Haddin (55) sent the Kiwi bowlers on a leather hunt during an opening partnership of 131 in only 18 overs.

This was after the Aussie pacers, led by Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait, produced a hostile spell of fast bowling to decimate the opposition in only 45.1 overs at the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground.

Both Tait (3/35) and Johnson (4/33 in 9.1 overs) bowled with pace and accuracy which made lives difficult for the opposition batsmen.

The New Zealand team, still disturbed due to the tragedy back home, never looked like competing in the first place.

Their bowlers, especially Hamish Bennett, sprayed all over the place as Watson and Haddin took them to cleaners.

Haddin's innings was a contrast to his painstaking 29 against Zimbabwe on Monday as he blasted his way to a half century in only 39 balls. This was the wicketkeeper batsman's 12th half century in 78th ODI.

Watson, who started off slowly after getting reprieve due to Umpires Review (Tim Southee was the bowler), got into the act and literally toyed with slower bowlers like Daniel Vettori and Nathan McCullum.

Watson produced some typical slogs with great effect on the way to his 21st fifty.

By the time Haddin holed out in the deep off Hamish Bennett and Watson played on, the writing was on the wall for New Zealand. Ponting (12) again failed to deliver but victory was just a formality then.

Earlier, Nathan McCullum stood tall amidst the ruins with a fighting half century. Courtesy Nathan's (52) rearguard action, New Zealand were able to cross the 200-run mark after Aussie bowlers blew away the top-six within 17 overs with 73 on the board.

He shared 48 runs for the seventh wicket with Jamie How (22) and 54 with Vettori (44).

After overnight rain, Ponting elected to field as conditions were bit overcast. Ideally, he would have liked his speedsters to extract all the help available from the strip.

Tait and Johnson were ably complemented by Watson (1/9 from three overs) and Brett Lee (1/29 from 8 overs).

The quartet ensured that Ponting's decision to bowl first was vindicated. All of them pitched the ball fuller, got a bit of movement and were also helped by some lousy shots by Black Caps batsmen.

If Tait bowled fast and straight, Johnson got the ball to swing away at a brisk pace. Although Jesse Ryder pulled a couple of short ones from Johnson, none of the top-order batsmen applied themselves on a pitch which eased out with time. Both Nathan and Vettori later showed that it wasn't difficult to play shots once the batsmen got their eye in.

In the morning, the first to go was Brendon McCullum (16, 12 balls, 3x4). The Kiwi opener used Tait's pace to get two boundaries with upper cuts.

But it was Tait's pace that eventually made the difference, when McCullum slashed hard off a delivery that had extra yard of pace. It ballooned up and was easily caught by Jason Krejza at thirdman.

Martin Guptill, who struggled for his 10 from 25 balls, was a bit unlucky though. Watson found a spot outside off-stump where the deliveries didn't take off after pitching.

Watson hit the spot and the ball kept low as it whizzed past the toe of Guptill's bat to hit the off-stump.

Ryder (25, 31 balls, 4x6) started off well as he took four boundaries off Johnson. Three of them were sweetly timed pull shots that bisected the fine leg and square leg fielders.

In the 14th over, Johnson delivered a telling blow as he first got Jesse Ryder and then James Franklin for a naught to reduce the Kiwis to 66 for four.

Ryder, who plays with minimal footwork, got one that pitched on the off-stump before moving away. The burly New Zealander poked at the delivery to offer a simple catch to Haddin behind stumps.

Franklin, who came in at number five, flashed at a wide delivery to be caught by Haddin.

Tait, who was brought for his second spell from the pavilion end, was buoyed by Johnson's success. He first got Scott Styris (0) to edge a fast and straight delivery outside off-stump. The fastest among Aussie quartet then bowled an inswinging yorker to end Taylor's (7) misery.

By the 17th over, New Zealand were tottering at 73 for six with more than half of the side back in the pavilion.

McCullum and Jamie How (22, 47 balls, 1x4), who replaced Jacob Oram, averted any further collapse for the next 12 overs adding 48 runs in the process.

Finally, it was leg-spinner Steven Smith who bowled a straighter one that thudded into How's pads. The batsman appealed for a review which went against him. Interestingly, all the Umpires' Review decision went against the Kiwis on Friday.

Ton up de Villiers leads SA to victory over WI

New Delhi: AB de Villiers hit a quickfire century to back up a promising performance from South African spinners as the Proteas cruised to a seven-wicket win over West Indies at the World Cup on Thursday.

De Villiers lifted his team from 20-2 with his unbeaten 107 from 105 balls, sharing a 119-run partnership with skipper Graeme Smith (45) as one of the title favorites opened with a comfortable victory in Group B.

outh Africa ended 223-3, overhauling West Indies' 222 all out with 7.1 overs to spare. JP Duminy was 42 not out.

Leg spinner Imran Tahir earlier claimed 4-41 on his competitive debut for South Africa and offspinner Johan Botha had 2-48 to rein the West Indies in after it had been 113-1 and 178-4.

Darren Bravo top scored for West Indies with 73 before Tahir, Botha and Dale Steyn (3-24) hit back.

The right-handed De Villiers controlled the century partnership with Smith and then an unbeaten stand of 84 with Duminy to take South Africa sailing home after the early loss of Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis.

Amla was caught brilliantly off an inside edge by wicketkeeper Devon Thomas and Kallis departed soon after to a catch at slip off spinner Suleiman Benn.

The right-handed De Villiers flayed three fours through the covers off Kemar Roach in the eighth over to kickstart a stuttering Proteas reply, and never looked back.

Tahir had run through the West Indies' top and middle order and offspinner Johan Botha claimed two wickets, including the wicket of Chris Gayle in the first over, as the Proteas' unusually spin-heavy attack shone at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.

Paceman Dale Steyn cleaned up the tail.

The South African bowlers twice fought back strongly after a stroke-filled half-century from 22-year-old Darren Bravo and 40 from 37 balls from half brother Dwayne had West Indies in handy positions at 113-1 and then 178-4.

Dwayne Bravo was run out and West Indies lost its last five wickets for just 13 runs.

Afridi's five-for demolishes Kenya

Hambantota: As a coach, Waqar Younis knows the drill of how teams need to win the games that matter in convincing fashion.

He has been through the drill as well as an elite fast bowler, captain and now the man who as an integral part of the management team that is trying to pull Pakistan together after a year fraught with controversies.

How right he was. A convincing 205 runs victory over Kenya is the sort of result that Pakistan hoped to deliver their fans at home as well as those following the side in Sri Lanka. Despite the initial top-order stutters, they were always in command of the situation.

Umar went on to win man of the match with his innings of 71 off 52 balls and a smart strike rate of 136. He was fluent and decisive and for those who remember his batting in Australia and New Zealand, there much to suggest that he will be one of the middle-order men to watch. There is a lot of flexibility about his batting and the rotation of the strike was an impressive detail to watch.

Mohammed Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad at times struggled to find each other and it would be cruel, yet perhaps kind, to suggest their early departures might yet be a blessing. It at least allowed some solid batting practice for Kamran Akmal (55), Younis Khan (50) and Misbah—ul-Haq (65) to build partnerships.

All this allowed 21-year-old Umar Akmal to display the form, which has turned him into a bubbling technician, not afraid to play his strokes and work the ball around. His 118 run partnership with Mishbah was the perfect platform needed by the Pakistan lower-order. Pakistan have also gone for the seven-batsmen plan with two of them doubling as all-rounders with Hafeez off-spin adding the to the variety.

What is interesting about the way Afridi bowled is that he had the batsmen under pressure most of the time and enjoyed the experience of bowling in a situation that was more a practice than a genuine contest. This may seem harsh, but it is the type of batting that Kenya provided in the latter part of their innings. From 73 for three to a total of 112 in a little more than six overs explains the debacle.

England win despite Doeschate heroics

Nagpur: The Netherlands all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate's brilliant all-round effort went in vain as England huffed and puffed their way to a six-wicket win in a group B encounter of the World Cup on Tuesday.

Chasing a stiff target of 293, England batsmen were made to work hard by a determined Dutchmen who were finally done in due to lack of big match temperament as Paul Collingwood and Ravi Bopara added a crucial 55 runs for the fifth wicket to win the match with eight balls to spare.

But no one can take the credit away from Ten Doeschate (119 and two for 47) who almost single-handedly threatened to take the game away from the Englishmen at the VCA ground in Jamtha here.

After their bowlers faltered, England openers started the chase in right earnest as Andrew Strauss (88 off 83 balls) played an out of character innings while Kevin Pietersen (39 off 61 balls) looked scratchy in between some good shots. It was Strauss who made full use of the fielding restrictions as England scored 100 runs in 17 overs.

The England captain scored his 27th ODI half century off ony 34 balls with the help of nine boundaries.

Pietersen was the first to depart when he drove uppishly off left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar to skipper Peter Borren at short cover.

Strauss and Jonathan Trott (62, 65 balls, 4x4) then consolidated the innings for the second wicket adding 61 runs.

Strauss who looked good for sixth ODI century then mistimed a pull shot off Mudassar Bukhari's bowling to Tom Cooper stationed at square leg.

Trott and Ian Bell (33) didn't take too many risks in the middle overs as they were more intent on taking the singles and twos hitting the odd boundaries in between. They added 58 runs in 10.5 overs.

Ten Doeschate once again came to the rescue of his team as he struck at the start of the batting Powerplays with Wesley Barresi effecting a brilliant stumping to send back Trott.

If that wasn't enough, he cleaned up Bell in the 43rd over to get his second victim. But Bopara and Collingwood then ensured there was no further collapse and helped England script the third successful runchase in World Cup history.

Earlier, Ten Doeschate played the innings of his life as his superb century helped the Netherlands reach a challenging score of 292 for six in 50 overs.

The first cricketer from an Associate Nation to get an IPL contract (for KKR), Ten Doeschate during his innings of 119 (110 balls, 9x4, 3x6) showed why he is quite a few notches above his colleagues in the Dutch team.

The ICC Associate Cricketer of Year was never in awe of opposition bowlers. He showed special fascination for the region between mid-wicket and deep mid-wicket as most of his scoring shots were hit in that particular arc. The three sixes (one each of Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Swann) were a delight.

Save a mistimed lofted shot on 47, the others were pure cricketing shots. When Pietersen provided a juicy full toss, Ten Doeschate stepped out to hit him over deep mid wicket for a six.

His third wicket partnership of 78 with Tom Cooper (47, 73 balls, 3x4) and 64 for the fifth wicket with Tom de Grooth (28) off 60 balls helped him take his team to a commanding position.

However, the last surge was provided during the batting Powerplays when Ten Doeschate in company of skipper Peter Borren (35 not out, 24 balls, 4x4) added 61 runs in only 5.2 overs.

The best ever cricketer to have played for the country, Ten Doeschate, who had earlier hit two half centuries in the previous edition (vs SA and Scotland) reached his fourth ODI century and first against a Test playing nation due to five overthrows off 98 deliveries.

When he was finally caught at mid-wicket boundary off Stuart Broad's bowling, his team had already reached a score of 274.

The sloppy fielding of the English fielders also helped the Dutch as they failed to stop the rival batsmen from running twos, misjudged catches and gave away at least 15 extra runs.

Save Swann (two for 35), the other frontline bowlers also failed to impress. Even pacers James Anderson and Stuart Broad went for 73 and 65 runs from their 10 overs respectively.

Assertive Aussies thump Zimbabwe by 91 runs

Ahmedabad: Holders Australia commenced their title defence with an emphatic 91-run victory over Zimbabwe, after their batsmen recovered from a slow start to post 262 for six in their World Cup Group A opener at the Sardar Patel Stadium here on Monday.

The defending champions, who did not lose a single match on their way to titles in 2003 and 2007, thus establishing a 29-match unbeaten streak in the tournament, initially rode on half centuries from opener Shane Watson (79) and vice captain Michael Clarke (58 not out) to record a competitive total on a wicket that looked slow and offered low bounce.

The strong Australian attack, led by left-arm pacer Mitchell Johnson's four wickets, then ripped apart the heart of the Zimbabwe batting by reducing them to 44 for four in no time. The African nation could never recover from those blows.

Zimbabwe capitulated for 171 in 46.2 overs to hand the four-time winners their 26th win in head-to-head clashes in captain Ricky Ponting's record-setting 40th Cup appearance.

India start WC campaign with huge win

Mirpur: Virender Sehwag hit a career-best 175 and Virat Kohli smashed an unbeaten hundred as India steamrolled Bangladesh, winning the opening game of the 2011 World Cup by 87 runs at the Shere-e-Bangla stadium here on Saturday.

Put into bat, India posted a mammoth 370/4 on a wicket where the dew was expected to play its part and where Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan was of the opinion at the time of the toss that 260 would be a par score. India and specifically Sehwag though had completely different plans.

Already having announced his intentions of exacting revenge for the 2007 World Cup loss to Bangladesh, Sehwag cut loose from the word go and toyed with the insipid bowling. India were coasting at 69/0 in the 11th over when a mix-up between Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar cost the latter his wicket. The master blaster tapped the ball to the onside and called for a quick run, but Sehwag - guilty of ball watching - failed to back up and both the batsmen ended up at the same end.

If Tendulkar was disappointed with the dismissal, anguish was writ large on Sehwag's face. The disappointment of letting down his partner egged him on as he pulverised the Bangladesh attack and silenced the 25,000-strong crowd inside the stadium.

He had a quick 83-run stand with Gautam Gambhir before the mammoth 203-run stand with Kohli that took the game away from the hosts completely.

The duo put up a scintillating show. While Sehwag brought up his 14th ODI hundred, Kohli reached his fifth and his first on World Cup debut off the penultimate ball of the innings.

Sehwag hammered as many as 14 boundaries and five sixes during his 140-ball 175 while Kohli's unbeaten 83-ball 100 contained eight boundaries and two sixes.

Sehwag was hit on the knee and batted in the later stages of his innings with a runner, but the intensity of his shots did not diminish even once.

After Sehwag completed the century, both the batsmen opted for the batting powerplay and virtually plundered runs at will, picking up Shafiul Islam for special treatment by clobbering him for 18 runs in one over.

Abdur Razzak also came in for a battering as Sehwag smashed him for two boundaries and a six in one over to accelerate the pace of scoring.

Sehwag created many batting records during his scintillating knock. It was the highest score by an Indian batsman against Bangladesh, going past Sourav Ganguly's 135 in 2000 and he also surpassed Tendulkar's 141 which till date was the highest individual score in ODIs in Bangladesh.

Sehwag fell at the same score that legendary Kapil Dev had made 28 years ago. Shakib bowled a fullish ball angling into Sehwag who got a bottom edge onto his stumps.

Bangladesh's chase too started on a spirited note but some tight bowling by Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh and Yusuf Pathan made sure they finished their innings at 283/9.

Tamim Iqbal (70) and skipper Shakib Al Hasan (55) were the notable contributors for Bangladesh, while Munaf Patel was the star performer with the ball for India with figures of 4/48 while Zaheer Khan also chipped in with two wickets for 41 runs.

The two Bangladeshi openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes (34) played a few attacking shots, particularly against S Sreesanth who tended to err in line and length in his opening spell.

The opening pair put on a brisk 56 runs in 6.5 overs before paceman Munaf Patel provided the breakthrough by castling Kayes for 34.

Iqbal and Junaid Siddique (37) ensured that there were no immediate jolts for the hosts as they batted cautiously without taking too many risks.

But as a result, the asking rate continued to mount as the two Bangladeshi batsmen found it difficult to hit the Indian spinners.

Though Harbhajan and Pathan found it difficult to grip the ball properly because of the dew, they stuck to a tidy line and length to dry up the runs.

Harbhajan accounted for the dismissal of Siddique as he was beaten by a ball which spun sharply and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni whipped off the bails in a flash.

Bangladesh captain Shakib scored a gutsy 50-ball 55 and together with wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim (25) added 46 for the fourth wicket before departing in search of quick runs.

Shakib was caught by Harbhajan at deep mid-wicket boundary off Yusuf Pathan as he went for a slog sweep.

From there on victory was just a formality for India as the asking rate crept up and in search of runs they lost wickets at regular intervals towards the end.