Mustafizur takes five wickets on debut as Bangladesh hammer India

Mirpur: High-flying India was brought down to earth by a spirited Bangladesh who pulled off an upset 79- run victory in the first ODI to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Bangladesh outsmarted India in all departments of the game and extracted a sweet revenge for their their quarterfinal loss at the hands of the same opponents in the World Cup earlier this year. [caption id=“attachment_2302298” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Raina’s wicket - one of Mustafizur’s five - signalled the end of any Indian revival. AFP Photos.[/caption] Chasing an imposing 308 for win, the Indians made a steady start before losing wickets at heap to be bundled out for 228 with four overs to spare. Openers Rohit Sharma (63 off 68) and Shikhar Dhawan (30 off 38) stitched a 95-run stand for the first wicket, while Suresh Raina – with a run-a-ball 40 – and Ravindra Jadeja (32 off 42) also tried their bit to save the day for India, which was not to be. Debutant Mustafizur Rahman (5/50) turned out to be the star performer for Bangladesh with the ball, picking up a five-for in his first international match. He was supported well by pace partner Taskin Ahmed (2/21) and Shakib al Hasan (2/33). Earlier, Indian bowlers were taken to task by some fantastic batting by Bangladesh top-order as the home team posted a challenging score of 307 all out in 49.4 overs, in their highest score against India in ODIs, surpassing the previous best of 296 for six at the same venue in 2010. Openers Soumya Sarkar (54 off 40 balls) and Tamim Iqbal (60 off 62 balls) added 102 runs for the opening stand in only 13.4 overs to lay a solid foundation. Shakib (52 off 68 balls), Sabbir Rahaman (41 off 44 balls) and Nasir Hossain (34) batted well in the middle-order to take Bangladesh to a substantial total. While Ravichandran Ashwin (3/51 in 10 overs) was the most successful bowler for India, Umesh Yadav (2/58 in 8 overs) and Mohit Sharma (1/53 in 4.3 overs) were especially taken apart by the Bangladeshi batsmen. Ravindra Jadeja (1/48) was good in patches and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/37 in 7 overs) ended with a decent outing. Later, as the target suggested it was bound to be a tough chase for the Indians and it turned out to be so. India’s opening duo of Rohit and Dhawan were off to a shaky start as Bangladesh’s pace combination of Mustafizur and Taskin bowled a prodding line and length. The duo’s disciplined bowling initially didn’t allow the Indian openers to free their arms as the visitors made just 17 runs off the first four overs. But after the initial jitters, the openers finally opened up when Dhawan dished out a fine cover drive off Taskin to strike the first boundary of the visitors’ innings in the last ball off the fourth over. After a cautious initial perriod, Rohit showed his class when he fetched 15 runs off Rahman in the seventh over. Rohit first effortlessly pulled Rahman over square leg for a six and then followed it up with deft push to the cover boundary. He then drove the bowler on the up to fetch another elegant four. Bangladesh’s Test captain and wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim handed two lives to Dhawan in consecutive overs. Mushfiqur first dropped Dhawan at the personal score of 13 when Rubel Hossain induced a sharp outside edge in the ninth over and then an over later the home team wicket-keeper again spilled an inside edge off the left-hander off skipper Mortaza’s bowling. India reached 66 for no loss at the end of the 10th over. Rohit went on to score his 26th ODI half-century in the 15th over. Bangladesh tasted success in the last ball of the 16th over in the form of Dhawan, whose luck finally ran out when he top-edged a Taskin delivery to Mushfiqur behind the stumps while going for an upper cut. Taskin dealt India another blow an over later when he induced an edge to Mushfiqur off a loose shot from dangerman Virat Kohli for a solitary run. Two overs later, debutant Mustafizur gave Bangladesh another reason to rejoice when he accounted for the important wicket of a set Rohit. Rohit failed to pick a fullish slower delivery only to give a massive leading edge to Mortaza at mid-off. Young Mustafizur was again at the thick of things when he dismissed Ajinkya Rahane (9) in his next over with another slower ball, caught by Nasir Hossain as India slumped to a precaurious 115 for four after 23 overs. Much was expected from the Indian captain, but Mahendra Singh Dhoni (5) too cut a sorry figure and departed early as Mushfiqur took a sharp catch off the bowling of Shakib. Raina and Jadeja then tried to steady India’s rollicking ship with a 67-ball 60-run fifth-wicket partnership before the visitors lost two more quick wickets. Young Mustafizur couldn’t have asked for a better debut as he picked up the wickets of Raina and Ashwin with consecutive deliveries in the 37th over to shatter India’s hopes. Brought back into the attack by Mortaza, Mustafizur was smacked by the left-handed batsman over the cover boundary for a six but the bowler took his revenge two balls later when he went through Raina’s defence. Mustafizur then induced an edge from Ashwin with his next delivery to sent the packed Sher-e-Bangla stadium into a frenzy. He picked up his fifth wicket of the day when Jadeja was holed out at long-on by Sarkar. From there on victory was just a formality for Bangaldesh and the hosts finally managed to wrap up India’s innings in the 46th over. Earlier, Bangladesh openers Sarkar and Tamim started in a whirlwind fashion after their skipper Mortaza opted to bat on a good surface. While Tamim played and missed a lot during the first few overs, Sarkar was more assured with his footwork as he repeatedly lofted the duo of Bhuvenshwar and Yadav over the in-field. There were some lofted cover drives as well as pull-shots in the arc between mid-wicket and square leg. When Ashwin was initially brought into the attack, Sarkar lofted him over deep midwicket for a huge six. The coveted half-century came off 38 balls when he just guided a delivery from Mohit over keeper’s head for a one bounce four. To be fair to Tamim, once he got a couple of boundaries, he also matched his junior colleague stroke for stroke even though Sarkar’s batting was more pleasing to the eye. The floodgates for the senior pro opened in the sixth over of the innings bowled by an erratic Yadav which yielded 18 runs. The Vidarbha pacer bowled all over the place as Tamim guided the bowler to the third man for a boundary, followed by a slashed boundary over point and then grilled him past mid-on. As if to complete the humiliation, he danced down the track to lift him over covers for a six. The Indian bowlers looked clueless as 100 came up in the 13th over before a smart work from Raina in the field saw Sarkar head back towards pavilion for a well-made 54 off 40 balls with eight fours and a six. Tamim was however unfazed as he completed his 30th half-century in ODIs with a boundary off Mohit and followed it up with another four. His 50 came off as many deliveries. However on a personal score of 60, he danced down the track to loft Ashwin but only found Rohit at long-on boundary. Tamim’s innings had eight hits to the fence and a maximum to go with it. From 102 for no loss, Bangladesh quickly slumped to 146 for four as debutant Litton Das (8) and Test captain Mushfiqur (14) were dismissed cheaply by Ashwin. But then Shakib was joined by Sabbir as the duo first arrested the slide and followed it up with some clean hitting. They added 83 runs for the fifth wicket to take Bangaldesh score close to 250 by the start of the final 10 overs. Once Sabbir was cleaned up Jadeja, seasoned Shakib carried on hitting the occasional boundaries and running well between the wickets. Shakib’s was a patient innings in contrast to the openers as his 52 came off 68 balls with three boundaries before Yadav finally got a wicket. Towards the end, skipper Mortaza (21 off 18) also played a good hand for the hosts, who ended the night with a memorable win. PTI