The India captain, MS Dhoni, called for improvements from his players after another woeful performance in the field during his team's victory over Bangladesh in the triangular series in Dhaka yesterday. Bangladesh, who made the surprising decision to bat first despite dew, amassed 296 for six, their highest total in a one-day international against a Test nation.
But Dhoni hit an unbeaten 101 and was well supported by Virat Kohli (91) and Suresh Raina (51 not out) as he guided India to victory with 15 deliveries to spare. India were ragged in the field as catches were put down and easy runs given away through wides and no-balls. "If we want to be the number one team in the world, you need to perform consistently well with both bat and ball," Dhoni said. "We are winning matches on the strength of our batting, but we need to do better with the new ball and bowling at the death.
"Yuvraj Singh was our best bowler and that's something you don't want to see - although it's nice that Yuvraj is contributing. "You would want your best bowlers to deliver." The decision of the Bangladesh captain Shakib al Hasan to bat first was somewhat vindicated as openers Tamim Iqbal (60 from 42 deliveries) and Imrul Kayes (70) raised a solid platform and Mahmudullah (60 not out) added the finishing touches.
The home side then made early inroads, but Dhoni took control and, aided nicely by Kohli's and Raina's unbeaten 51, guided India to victory with 15 deliveries to spare. India's bowling was anything but composed and Bangladesh's openers took advantage. Tamim smacked 60 off only 42 deliveries while fellow opener Kayes scored a far more sedate 70. Mahmudullah finished 60 not out and Raqibul Hasan added 32.
Al Hasan said the decision to bat first was to avoid chasing a massive total. "We knew we could not chase 350 or more than that which India would have got," he said. The Bangladesh Cricket Board has brought forward the start of matches in the series by half an hour to 2pm local time, starting with today's game between the hosts and Sri Lanka to counter the effect of the dew. * With agencies
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal c Gambhir b Sreesanth 60 Imrul Kayes c Kohli b Nehra 70 Mohammad Ashraful b Jadeja 29 Shakib Al Hasan run out (Khan) 0 Raqibul Hasan b Harbhajan 32 Mushfiqur Rahim c Jadeja b Yuvraj 6 Mahmudullah not out 60 Naeem Islam not out 14 Extras (4lb, 17w, 4nb) 25 Total (for six wickets in 50 overs) 296 Fall of wickets: 1-80 (Tamim), 2-148 (Ashraful, 27.5), 3-156 (Shakib, 29.3), 4-188 (Kayes), 5-206 (Mushfiqur), 6-238 (Hasan) Bowling: Ashish Nehra 6-0-44-1 Sreesanth 8-0-54-1 Zaheer Khan 6-0-43-0 Harbhajan Singh 9-0-56-1 Yuvraj Singh 10-0-33-1 Ravindra Jadeja 9-0-45-1 Virender Sehwag 2-0-17-0 India: Gautam Gambhir b Rubel 18 Virender Sehwag run out 13 Virat Kohli c&b Shakib 91 Yuvraj Singh b Rasel 1 MS Dhoni not out 101 Suresh Raina not out 51 Extras (6lb, 13w, 3nb) 22 Total (four wickets, 47.3 overs) 297 Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-49, 3-51, 4-203 Bowling: Rasel 9.3-0-58-1 (2w, 2nb) Razzak 9-0-66-0 (4w) Rubel 9-0-60-1 (3w, 1nb) Shakib 10-0-45-1 (1w) Naeem 2-0-16-0 Mahmudullah 7-0-38-0 (1w) Ashraful 1-0-8-0
