Mortaza snares four, triggers early collapse in Dravid camp

Bangladesh bowlers jolted Indian World Cup hopes, bowling them out for 191 in their opening Group B clash on Saturday.

Bangladesh bowlers jolted Indian World Cup hopes, bowling them out for 191 in their opening Group B clash on Saturday.

Paceman Mashrafe Mortaza scalped four and left-arm spinners Mohammad Rafique and Abdur Razzak took three wickets apiece to strangle India on a good batting pitch after skipper Rahul Dravid elected to bat. It was India’s lowest one-day total against Bangladesh. Opener Sourav Ganguly struck 66 and stayed on till the 44th over to prop up his team, adding 85 for the fifth wicket with Yuvraj Singh (47).

Bangladesh bowlers then snapped up five wickets for two runs to reduce the innings to 159 for nine before the last wicket pair of Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel put on 32 runs.

Bangladesh, with just four victories over the top eight ranked teams, appeared set for a famous fifth after leaving India reeling in the morning.

Mortaza grabbed two wickets, bowling in tandem with left-arm paceman Syed Rasel, who gave away just 31 runs in a single 10-over spell.

Mortaza, 23, forced struggling opener Virender Sehwag to chop an in-coming ball on to the stumps for two runs before Robin Uthappa (9) edged a loose drive to point to make it 21 for two in the seventh over.

Sehwag, whose horrible form continued, was almost run out in the first over and now has scored just one fifty in his last 14 innings.

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Spinner Razzak replaced Mortaza and claimed the prized scalp of Sachin Tendulkar (7) off the last ball of his first over, making it 40-3 after 15 overs. The premier batsman, playing in his fifth World Cup, edged a drive onto his pads to be caught by teenage stumper Mushfiqur Rahim on his second attempt. Skipper Rahul Dravid (14) was trapped leg before by 36-year-old Rafique, the third spinner brought into the attack. Bangladesh kept things tight with their superb fielding.

SCOREBOARD

India: Ganguly c Razzak b Rafique 66, Sehwag b Mortaza 2, Uthappa c Aftab b Mortaza9, Tendulkar c Mushfiqur b Razzak 7, Dravid lbw b Rafique14, Yuvraj c Bashar b Razzak 47, Dhoni c Aftab b Rafique 0, Harbhajan b Razzak 1, Agarkar c Rahim b Mortaza 0, Zaheer not out15, Patel c Razzak b Mortaza15

Extras (lb5, w3, nb 8): 16; Total (all out, 49.3 overs): 191

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-21, 3-40, 4-72, 5-157, 6-158, 7-159, 8-159, 9-159

Bowling: Mahrafe Mortaza 9.3-2-38-4, Syed Rasel 10-2-31-0, Abdur Razzak 10-2-38-3, Saqibul Hasan 10-0-44-0, Mohammad Rafique 10-1-35-3

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Mashrafe Mortaza

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This 23-year-old right arm pace bowler from Bangladesh made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in 2001. Prior to the World Cup, Mortaza had 79 one-day wickets to his name.

–N.Ananthanarayanan