 A brilliant century by Alok Kapali (115 runs of 96 balls) and some good partnership in the middle of the innings Bangladesh posted a challenging total for the Indians in the first match of Super 4’s Asia Cup. After wining the toss Bangladesh Captain M.Ashraful has no hesitation in electing to bat first at National Stadium Karachi. His decision was well supported by his opener Tamim Iqbal who smashed 55 runs of just 67 balls before giving a simple catch to M.S.Dhoni behind the wicket on the bowling of Ishant Sharma. Bangladesh did lost their first wicket very quickly when Nazimuddin dismissed when Bangladesh has 19 runs on the board in the 5th over. However Md. Ashraful and Tamim Iqbal played mixed with caution and aggressions to guide their team to get pass the score of 50 in the 11th over. Both put on 44 runs for the 2nd wicket before M.Gony gets rid of Md. Ashraful to get his first maiden wicket in ODI. Six over later P.Ojha playing his first One day International gets rid of R.Hasan (25 runs of 34 balls) who was bowled by one of the superb delivery from Ojha. But the partnership which was most dangerous for the Indians was between Alok Kapali and Mahmudullah as they went on to put on 112 runs of just 87 balls for the sixth wicket. Most successful bowlers from India were P.Ojha and M.Gony both picked up two wickets each. P.Ojha bowled 10 overs and conceded just 43 runs while M.Gony was on expensive side conceding 65 runs in just 8 overs. I.Sharma and R.P.Singh picked up one wicket each. Now India has to chase down 284 runs in 50 overs to win this match. Indian team made few changes in their squad while going into this match. They have brought M.Gony in place of P.Kumar, P.Ojha making his debut in place of P.Chawla and V.Sehwag rested for R.Uthappa. Match Summary Bangladesh– 283/6 in 50 Overs A.Kapali- 115 T.Iqbal – 55
P.Ojha– 10-0-43-2 M.Gony– 8-0-65-2 Final Playing XI for both the teams India: R.Uthappa, G.Gambhir, Y.Singh, M.S.Dhoni (Captain), S.Raina, R.Sharma, Y.Pathan, I.Sharma, P.Ojha, R.P.Singh, M.Gony. Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Nazimuddin, Mohammad Ashraful (Captain), Raqibul Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (WK), Alok Kapali, Mahmudullah, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, S.Hossain, Farhad Reza |
