Bangladesh Vs India, Group B

Summary:
We thought we'd summarize the stream of consciousness below into a coherent paragraph or two for our readers.

Bangladesh kicked India's arse. If you read this post and think that we are not giving Bangladesh enough credit you would be wrong. This was a brilliant win for them. They outplayed India in all departments. However, we are mostly concerned about Indian cricket and hence end up focusing on them. We are not taking anything away from Bangladesh. They had a great coming-of-age party today.

Bangladesh bowled beautifully and more importantly backed it up with some inspired fielding. Ganguly, who is famous all over the world for taking sharp singles and for keeping the scoreboard ticking, could do nothing. Ganguly was so enamored with the Bangladeshi fielding that he totally avoided taking singles. While Ganguly was admiring the fielding, wickets fell at the other end. Sehwag, Uthappa, Tendulkar, and Dravid, all gone in quick succession. Yuvraj and Ganguly got a tidy partnership going and slowly limped to 157 for 4 in the 42nd over. It was time for the big sixeers, sublime boundaries and generally helter-skelter running. None of that came to pass because India went from 157 from 4 to 159 for 9. Utter and total collapse. There was no recovering from that. India went on make 191.

Bangladesh batted extraordinarily well. Especially Tamim Iqbal who reminded us of a younger Ganguly in his attitude and brashness. His innings was chancy but Indian fielding was abysmal. The half chances that came their way were not taken. The bowling was pretty pedestrian. So, all in all, a pathetic performance from India. We take back everything good we said about Agarkar. When India needs him most, he invariably fails them. Harbhajan was equally ineffective. Thanks to Rahim and Hasan who batted sensibly in the middle overs, the Bangladeshi team cruised to victory.

The situation now looks dire for India. They played badly and were completely outplayed by Bangladesh. India can now lift their game up or completely give up and sink (yeah, we know you are shocked by our perspicacity). Either way, there is a big shit storm brewing in the media. The next few days will be rough for Dravid, Chappell, Sehwag, and et al.

Start of Stream of Consciousness: Read at your own peril...

As we write this, India is staggering at 42 for 3 wickets in the 16th over. Ganguly is still batting at 13 runs (49 balls) and Dravid just walked in. Bangladesh is doing a terrific job with their bowling. The pitch has lots of grass and bounce on it and the ball is seaming off the pitch.

Dravid won the toss and elected to bat. Why? When common sense says one should bowl on this pitch, why did Dravid choose to bat? We would love to hear his reasons. Sehwag fell early and so did Robin. Tendulkar hung around for a while before falling to some really good spin bowling.

India could very well lose this match.

Update 1:
David Llyod and L. Sivaramakrishnan are beginning to grate on our nerves. We hate them. Actually, we hate everything right now. India are 67 for 3 in 23 overs. The dynamic duo (Llyod and Siva) just said for the umpteemth time that India needs a BIG partnership. Really? Dravid is looking awful against the spin bowling tandem of Razzak and Hasan. It's now 72 for 3 after 24 overs. The wicket seems to be easing up. India is in deep trouble. We shouldn't have said that. Dravid has been given out LBW. India now at 72 for 4.

You know what, We just realized that we don't like cricket all that much. 22 fools playing the game and 220 million people watching them play.

Update 2:
We just had an irate caller calling for firing Greg Chappell, Sehwag, Uthappa and basically the whole team. If it were up to us, we do it in an instant. Anyway, India are at 90 for 4 after 30 overs. Right about now, 210 looks like a great score. It might not be enough since the wicket seems to be easing up.

Update 3:
India at 98 for 4 in 33 overs. Drinks on the field. As per 'plan' India put its best foot forward - 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers. Readers of this blog might be familiar with our lament of not playing 5 specialist bowlers. Today, we might rue not having 5 specialist bowlers. Did we mention that this match is looking dire for India?

Update 4:
India at 116 for 4 after 35 overs. Right after the drinks break, Yuvraj broke free and hit a couple of boundaries. The sweep shot particularly good. Ganguly then did his usual walk-down-the-pitch and whacked a 4 to the long-off. Ganguly's 50 is up. Well Played. The running between the wickets has been pretty bad. Batsmen are not looking to put pressure on the fielders. The 50-run partnership between Yuvraj and Ganguly is up now. India desperately needed it. 122 for 4 after 36 overs.

Update 5:
40 overs up and India are 136 for 4. India needs a score of 240 to feel good about this game. That means scoring at a rate of 10 runs per over from now on. Tough to do. Yuvraj is looking good though. Ganguly needs to move his arse and run. Ganguly just waltzed down the pitch and belted a straight 4. That's what is needed. Good shot. Yuvraj just missed out on a dolly but then pulled the next ball to the boundary. 10 runs from this over. 146 for 4, 41 overs.

Update 6:
Massive 6! Slog swept over mid-wicket. Fantastic. 4 runs needed in this over to meet our totally arbitrary 10 runs an over asking rate. 9 runs this over. They need to make 11 in the next over. 155 for 4, 42 overs.

Update 7:
Yuvraj out for 47 well-made runs. A good innings comes to an end. Popped up a tame catch to fine leg trying to sweep. Dhoni is in. Forget about the 10 runs an over. Main thing now is to play out the 50 overs. India at 158 for 5, 43 overs.

Ganguly out for 66 runs. Got out trying to hit a nothing ball to the boundary. Mis-hit the ball and an easy catch to mid-wicket. This really sucks. Harbhajan in. We will be really happy if India makes 200. Oh Shit! Dhoni is gone for a big fat duck. 159 for 7. Forget 200, just bat the 50 overs. Please.

Update 8:
Harbhajan is gone. 159 for 8. The wheels are coming off. This is becoming a joke. Sreesanth looks like he might cry any moment now. We don't blame him. We are feeling like that too. John Wright says "India in all sorts of trouble". GENIUS. Did we mention we hate this game. We don't like it at all. The ball is turning quite a bit. We could have used an extra spinner instead of an extra batsman.

Update 9:
Holy shit!!!! Agarkar is gone. India is 159 for 9. So, the question now is: can India bowl out Bangladesh under 159? Nope. That would be our guess. India is going to lose this game. They will win the game against Bermuda and lose the game against Sri Lanka. They will be out of the tournament soon. That will put an end to our misery.

Update 10:
After revising the target several times, we settled on 169. India succeeded in meeting our very high expectations. Kudos to them. They never disappoint. Joys of being an Indian cricket fan are many.

Update 11:
On a brighter note, India is doing better than Pakistan (for now). Pakistan are 106 for 8 in 31 overs whereas India is at 186 for 9 in 49 overs. What a shot!!!! Why couldn't the 'specialist' batsmen play like Zaheer Khan? 4 runs - smacked through cover/extra cover. Oh well. That was too good to last. India all out for 191. 32 run partnership between Munaf and Zaheer. Well played.

Can this total be defended? We will find out.

Mid-Innings Break:
Another irate caller called in. He wanted Sehwag out of the team, pronto. Since we have been an ardent Sehwag supporter-did we just use the past tense in describing our support for Sehwag?- he wanted to know our opinion. What can we say? we still think he should be in the team but it is getting hard to think of a rationale. Maybe it is time to let go.

We really want to know why Dravid chose to bat. It doesn't matter. This was a really bad batting performance. The Bangladeshis bowled well and backed it up with some excellent fielding. The vaunted Indian batting line-up failed. As simple as that.

Bangladesh has the upper hand and this is their game to lose now.

Update 12:
It is not looking good for India. Bangladesh is off to a good start. Some loose bowling by Agarkar and Zaheer. Bangladesh is at 24 for no loss at the end of 4 overs. India needs wickets and so far Agarkar and Zaheer have not looked threatening.

The first wicket falls. Zaheer traps Nafees LBW. A bit iffy. Zaheer lucky to get the wicket. Bangladesh 24 for 1 in 5 overs. Will it be Agarkar's turn next?

Update 13:
Tamim Iqbal is a fire cracker. He is taking the attack to India and Bangladesh are cruising along. He just hit a six over extra cover. He is chancy but he is going through with his shots. Got to get Iqbal out if India has to have a chance. If India lets him continue like this, he is going to take the match away from India very quickly. Bangladesh is 45 for one in 10 overs.

Update 14:
Tamim Iqbal played one heck of an innings. He finally got out fishing outside his off-stump. Nevertheless, Bangladesh is well placed at 74 for 2 runs in 15 overs. India needs wickets. We are getting desperate. Oh! Dhoni misses a catch. crap. Munaf is bowling really well and deserves better support from the fielders.
Another call from a friend: "Sehwag should go". Well...
After Dhoni puts down a catch, Aftab Ahmed hits a cracking four. Super shot.
What do we have here? Aftab Ahmed gone LBW Munaf Patel. Bangladesh 79 for 3, in 16 overs. It's all happening.

Update 15:
Bangladesh now are 94 runs for 3 wickets. 21 overs up. Well, the fat lady is getting dressed to sing a bengali song. India needs wickets. Have we said that before? Steady stuff from the Bangladeshi batsmen. Need atleast two more wickets before Bangladesh score 110. Huge 6. Mushfiqur just hammered Harbhajan out of the ground. It's all going Bangladesh's way. 100 for 3, 22 overs up.

Update 16:
Nice partnership for Bangladesh. They are motoring along at 125 runs for 3 wickets. 31 overs up. Indians don't look like taking any wickets. The Bangladeshis are batting very sensibly. Why, oh why did India bat first? The pitch has totally eased off and the Bangladeshis are making batting look easy. Munaf into the attack and is immediately smashed for a boundary. Another boundary. Oh boy. Folks, this match is over. Indian shoulders are drooping and it will take a big miracle for India to pull this off. Mr. Ramakrishnan, it is time to start praying to Cricket Ganesha.

Update 17:
Bangladesh just lost two quick wickets are at 175 for 5 wickets. Too little too late. Bangladesh will win the game easily. A second question to be asked is: Why was Sehwag not tried a little earlier? Well...hindsight and all that. Seven overs to go and 22 runs to win. Easy.

Update 18:
A great win for Bangladesh. They have come of age. Congratulations.

Now that is out of the way, India played very badly. India's chance of reaching the Super 8 looks bleak. If we can't beat Bangladesh what are the chances of beating Sri Lanka. Zero.
We will beat Bermuda, lose to Sri Lanka and will make the long trip home. Sad end but that's cricket. Where does India go from here? A lot will be written. Rest of the world, get ready for the shit storm that's about to come.