Its hard to imagine that two years ago,Gautam Gambhir was still on the fringes of the Indian cricket team,having got his chance in the first edition of the World T20 championships only after Sachin Tendulkar,among other seniors,had pulled out of the event. In South Africa,Gambhir finished as the highest run-getter for India as Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his young team took giant steps to the title. Since then,the left-handed opener hasnt really stopped scoring at all. On Saturday night,as Dhoni & Co started their title defence,it was Gambhir,again,who proved to be the glue that held the Indian innings together while Yuvraj Singh again finished things off in style as India posted 180 for five off their 20 overs. Bangladeshs spinners had,especially after the Power plays,threatened to keep India down to a total below 150,but Gambhirs calm head and Yuvrajs pyrotechnics meant India went into the break happier than they might have expected. The total,incidentally,is just 11 fewer than the score India had put up against the same opposition in their 2007 World Cup opener in 50 overs then. Bangladeshs response too had uncanny,and unsettling similarities to that day,as Tamim Iqbal and Junaid Siddique got the minnows off to a flier. After the first 10 overs,they were placed at 82 for 4,with India unsure as to just how much their middle-overs slowdown would cost them. Solid start With Virender Sehwag not recovering in time for the game,Gambhir walked out to open with Rohit Sharma. The left-hander started off with his trademark half-poke,half-cut through point,while Rohit at the other end got going with a typically silken drive through the covers. In the stands,meanwhile,a familiar chant went up: Jeetega bhai jeetega,India jeetega. Nagpur or Nottingham? Bangladesh had their share of supporters,but they were drowned out of the contest early in the piece. On the field,Ashraful & Co had their moments,but failed to capitalise. Twenty20 is not an out-and-out game of chance,though some of the results it throws up do back up that theory; its just that smaller margins seem to come into play. Take the fourth over of the innings,for example. First Gambhir played an airy cut that Raqibul Hasan got his fingertips to at point. Next ball,Rohit flicked to the square-leg fence,where a leaping Mashrafe Mortaza only managed to tip it over for six. A few inches to the left,a couple of millimetres taller,and India could have been two wickets down. Instead,Shahadat Hossains first over went for 14 runs and the first six of the Indian innings fetched 54,with Rohit doing the bulk of the big-hitting. Stuck in the middle Mahendra Singh Dhoni walked in at No 3,and while he was striking the ball as cleanly as he normally does,he couldnt find the gaps often enough as the innings seemed to have gone into a rut. Between the seventh and the 15th overs,India scored just 63 runs a sentence that makes sense only in the context of Twenty20 cricket before Dhoni fell to an ugly swipe. Thats when Yuvraj walked in and provided the spark the innings needed. Nineteen runs came in Naeem Islams 17th over,including huge sixes off the first two deliveries that brought back some memories from a night in Durban. He fell for an 18-ball 41 with two overs to go.
