May 11, 2007	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 23, 1428

DHAKA, May 10: Mahendra Singh Dhoni battled leg cramps to hit an unbeaten 91 as India defeated their World Cup nemesis Bangladesh by five wickets in the opening game of the three-match One-day International (ODI) series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Thursday.

Dhoni and Dinesh Karthick (58 not out) put on a match-winning stand of 107 for the sixth wicket as the tourists, reduced to 144-5 chasing Bangladesh’s 250-7, recovered to win with just six balls to spare.

It was India’s first match since their humiliating first-round exit in the World Cup where they lost to Bangladesh in their opening match and also succumbed to eventual finalists Sri Lanka.

Dhoni, who came in at number three, anchored India’s innings till the end and was supported by Karthick to turn the near-defeat into a morale-boosting win.

But the stifling 38 degrees Celsius heat, combined with 90 percent humidity, caused Dhoni to suffer leg cramps midway through his innings and Yuvraj Singh acted as runner for the hobbling batsman.

A sell-out crowd of 28,000 at the match venue braved the oppressive heat to cheer the hosts in an encounter reduced to 47-overs-a-side after a drizzle delayed the start by 50 minutes.

Earlier in the morning Bangladesh’s total was built around opener Javed Omar’s 80 and a gutsy half-century from Saqibul Hasan, who also took two wickets with his left-arm spin.

The team, which earned their best ever finish of seventh place in the World Cup, attacked the Indian bowlers after choosing to take first strike.

Omar and Tamim Iqbal put on 78 for the first wicket before India hit back with two wickets in the space of four deliveries.

Omar and Saqibul then attacked the Indian bowlers on the slow wicket to put on 107 for the third wicket.

India got off to a rollicking start, posting 56 by the seventh over for the loss of openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Sehwag hit 30 off 21 balls and Gambhir made 21 before both fell to left-arm spinner Syed Rasel.

Bangladesh, depleted by the absence of pace spearhead Mashrafe Mortaza due to a back strain, dismissed Yuvraj, captain Rahul Dravid and Dinesh Mongia cheaply to force India into a tricky position.

But Dhoni and Karthick kept their cool – despite the conditions – to carry India home.

The second match will be played here on Saturday, followed by the third in Chittagong on May 15.

Bangladesh

Javed Omar run out 80

Tamim Iqbal c Sehwag b Mongia 45

Habibul Bashar c Gambhir b Powar 0

Saqibul Hasan st Dhoni b Mongia 50

Mohammad Ashraful b Mongia 29

Aftab Ahmed lbw Sehwag 16

M. Rafique c Karthick b Powar 11

Mushfiqur Rahim not out 1

EXTRAS: (LB-1, W-13, NB-4) 18

TOTAL: (7 wkts, 47 overs) 250

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-78, 2-78, 3-185, 4-200, 5-236, 6-240, 7-250

DNB: Syed Rasel, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain.

Bowling: Zaheer 7-1-54-0, Sreesanth 5-1-14-0, Munaf 7-1-31-0, Ramesh 10-0-55-2, D. Mongia 10-0-49-3, V. Sehwag 8-0-46-1.

India

V.Sehwag c Saqibul b Rasel 30

G.Gambhir lbw Syed Rasel 21

M.Dhoni not out 91

Y.Singh c Razzak b Shahadat 1

R.Dravid c Razzak b Saqibul 22

D.Mongia c Aftab b Saqibul 17

D.Karthick not out 58

Extras (LB-4, W-6, NB-1) 11

Total (5 wkts, 46 overs) 251

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-35 2-56 3-63 4-112

5-144

DNB: M. Patel, S. Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, Romesh Power.

Bowling: Rasel 9-0-66-2, Shahadat 7-0-43-1, Razzak 9-1-35-0, Rafique 10-0-47-0, Saqibul 9-0-43-2, Aftab 2-0-13-0.—AFP/Reuters