After all the squabbling and drama of the past two months, Bangladesh hosted India for the first match of a three match ODI series at the Mirpur stadium in Dhaka. And guess what, India won. Surprised? Don’t be. Because maybe, just maybe the world cup debacle is a thing of the past.

The day didn’t start on the right note for the Indians though. Habibul Bashar won the toss and correctly chose to bat after early morning showers reduced it to 47 overs-a-side game. India went in with three pace bowlers and like in the world cup, they came up short against the Bangladeshi openers again. Tamim Iqbal and Javed Omar had the better of Zaheer and Munaf again, only Sreesanth was able to control the damage a bit. It is no doubt that Tamim is getting on the nerves of Zaheer and one can’t help but feel that something is about to give.

The spinners brought some semblance of control back to the Indians as Romesh Powar and Dinesh Mongia took advantage of a slow spin friendly track to restrict the Bangladeshis to 250. Anything above that in a shortened match along with the three Bangladeshi left arm spinners would have put India into trouble. Not that they did not land up in it as it is.

The Indian openers Gambhir and Sehwag made a brisk start, but then Gambhir fell to his bane, a cross padded shot. And always trust Sehwag to get out unexpectedly. 16 runs off five balls, Syed Rasel the man who was punished, but as always, Sehwag misjudged a cut and holed out at cover. The bowler won yet again. Sehwag was out again in the 30s after a brisk start. The point is that any Tom, Dick or Harry could score 30 runs per match and bowl 6 overs & take a wicket. Then as a talent above the Sanjay Bangars, JP Yadhavs and all, why doesn’t he take some responsibility and settle down to make some big scores? How long will he hide behind the natural game excuse? Until when will Rahul Dravid turn a blind eye to the obvious?

Till the answers are found out by Dravid or Sehwag finds some responsibility, the Indian cricket fan will continue to see good starts fretter away. The openers were followed by Yuvraj who was again uncomfortable on a slow pitch while Dravid got out on the same shot he escaped two overs ago. But then the winning card had already been dealt. Dhoni had been sent in at no.3 and finally proved to the doubters why he could be most suitable at that position. Though he was hampered by a pulled-up hamstring as he spent almost the entire day on field, the courage displayed under such extreme conditions can only help him get his confidence back.

India was still not out of the mire as Dinesh Mongia gave away his wicket after being set, the story of the Indian innings. But Dhoni found an able partner in the other Dinesh, Karthik, who just swept and swept away gleefully till the threat posed by the opposition spinners faded away. The two shared a 107 run partnership to take India to a five wicket win. Relief at last for the Indians.

Not that we don’t have anything to improve upon. On the contrary, we need tightening up in all departments. Fielding is a bit two footed all over again, the top order still shaky and of course the bowling is compounding the problems. But the Indians made a winning start and that is quite significant in terms of boosting morale and confidence. Yes there is light at the end of the tunnel again. Let’s just hope it belongs to an oncoming train.

Via: Cricinfo