India vs Bangladesh: Live Blog

India vs Bangladesh, 17th March 2007
(ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, Port-of-spain, Trinidad : Group B match)

Keep Adding your comments and I will keep inserting them into the main piece, should be good fun

This is what we think the team should be like:

Sehwag, Ganguly, Dravid, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Pathan, Munaf, Agarkar, Kumble, Zaheer Khan

Pitch report: (David Lloyd on Set Max/SAB) , 1800 hrs India Time, 1230 GMT

- no dew, important factor when it's a 9:30 start (local)
- lots of runs, pitch curator says he is proud of it

Toss:
India wins toss, Dravid elects to bat
Habibul Bashar asked for Heads, it was Tails and India won the all important toss. That allows Dravid to let his batters get some important practise

India's team for today's match
Sehwag, Ganguly, Uthappa, Dravid, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Munaf, Agarkar, Harbhajan, Zaheer Khan

Bangladesh XI
Nafees, Aftab Ahmed, Mushfiqur Rahim, Bashar, Rasel, Belim,, Hasan, Abdur Razzak, Hossain, Rafique

That team selection is so very Dravidesque - safe & boring & the kinds which will only take you so far and no more. Pathan holds the key to India's balance - he should have been given a chance today. Instead Sehwag is the one given yet another chance. Don't know why they keep prefering Harbhajan over Kumble all the time - doesn't performance count at all. Will Dravid decide India's future on his gut instincts??!! Where is Vengsarkar?

Match starts:
Ganguly & Sehwag to open - that's one aggressive move by Dravid. The team card showed Sehwag in the middle order

Guess what?? Live blogging of scores is illegal. ICC can sue one for it - just got a couple of mails from blogger friends..don't want a case slapped for this!!!

Ananth adds:
this is neat...dont know if i'll be awake for the Bangladesh innings though. ....and there goes Sehwag. He fails again. Accusing fingers point at Dravid. Not a huge problem though. More firepower to some. Oppurtunity for Uthappa to make a mark..

Sorry Anath...this one has to stop, i guess..actually you are not allowe to live webcast scores without ICC authorization...I always thought those guys at ICC were crazy...here they prove it again. Let's continue it with moderation. Am taking your point..am switching off comment moderation for the time being.

Homer adds:
24/2 in 9... The art of digging a hole and burying oneself in it.We should patent it!!!

This Bangladeshi attack is looking real good. I don't think i would be exaggerating if i say that they are as good an opening attak as any other. And no wonder, India is struggling. Let's not forget that they are fresh from a win over Newzealand, who in turn were fresh from a 3-0 win over Australia.

This match is going to be a tough one..throw that minnow tag out of the air. If Ashraful produces one of those rare gems, anything could happen.

13th over - and the run rate is still under 3!!

Homer is still his optimistic self:
India will in if they post 200 or more. Our bowling is good enuf to deliver ( as usual).

Amit: Ashraful..if he plays well, Indian bowlers can go take a hike. Just that he plays once in a blue moon.

There is one decent appeal happening every over. 200 looks far away at this moment, anywhichways.

Tendulkar Gone..Razzak strikes in his first over..3 down and India down in the dumps

Homer:
the sad part is - if India wins, a lot of the problems will be papered over - which will come and bite us in the rear later . If India loses, people will get irrationally angry, thus forcing unplanned for course corrections.Either ways India' happiness is !@#$%^.

Finally Ganguly pierces the off-side and raises India's 50.

Dravid perishes leaving India in the doldrums. Yuvraj comes in and this is India's last specialist batting pair. Bangladesh right on top.

Anant adds:

familiar events..aren't these? Lots of expectations and lots of excitement and finally everything comes down..atleast Ganguly is still there. Yuvraj is there too and looking good...lets hope they carry on till the 40th over..then Dhoni could flex some of his milk powered muscles. Man..these lower order players are so damn important..they better come up with something here..

In the other match, the excitement has reached crazy height - against Ireland, Pakistan is reeling at 72/6 . One upset looks likely today!!

Swapnil join in in the fun:

Well a day when the only Indian to take some sort of stand against the Bangladeshi is our Bengali Dada. I think the Bengal curry tasted too spicy for the rest of 'em. Still India will get thought today as we have had a few low scoring (matches) in this cup already, and i still cant believe that Bangladeshis can get both batting and bowling right on the same day. Or was the win against New Zealand not a fluke.... Wat say ?

I think Zahir and Munaf towards the end have already given enough room for Indians to claw in. Take my word India will win.

Well, after recovering from a disastrous position, Ganguly and Yuvraj helped India recover to 157/4 before both perished in quick succession. And then 3 more batters followed their path back to the pavillion leaving India in big trouble at 159/9. 5 wickets gone for the addition of 2 runs. But then Munaf and Zaheer added 32 runs for the last wicket, and I just have a feeling ( and swanpil too) that those 32 might just make the difference. And it's unlikely that Bangladeshi batsmen will do as good a job as their bowlers. Hope!!

And if India is in trouble, can Pakistan be far behind. They are at 116/8 and unlikely to reach anywhere close to India's score - their only consolation and hope will lie that Ireland are minnower than Bangladesh. Anywhichways, one thing is guaranteed - two exciting second halves. So keep pouring in your comments...

The comment of the day so far:

Bhalla remarks: I could plant a kiss each on munaf patel and zaheer khan...32 runs!! invaluable. now for some good bowling boys...but even if we do win this match i dont see india going too deep into this tournament...this performance has convinved me :(

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its all over.