Remixed Raina on song, Gambhir provides chorus

With the scoreboard reading 56/2 and Virender Sehwag rested for the game, the situation was not ideal for a team chasing 284. But in walked a batsman who started the tournament with a century and narrowly missed another. Raina wasn’t intimidated by the scoreboard and certainly not by the bowling attack. And it was this mindset that helped India make Mt 284 seem like a molehill as they recorded a seven-wicket win and maintain an all-win record in the tournament.

If the other day it was Virender Sehwag with whom Raina marshalled India’s chase, on Saturday it was Sehwag’s Delhi team mate Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir scored an 84-ball 90 before returning to the pavilion. Raina and Yuvraj saw India home with 6.4 overs to go.

Earlier, it took Bangladesh old hand Alok Kapali six years, 60 matches and a lifeless wicket to score his first one-day international century — a knock of 115 that guided Bangladesh to 283/6. But his big moment came against a depleted India attack, sans medium pacer Praveen Kumar and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla.

But Kapali’s effort deserved praise considering the mindset with which Bangladesh came into the match. They were dealing with the trauma of the humiliation against Sri Lanka. To top it, skipper Mohammad Ashraful was out early.

In the end, though, Raina and Gambhir overshadowed Kapali’s knock. After this win India can’t be in a better frame of mind for the big games against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in this tournament.

Rauf to replace Gul

The technical committee of the Asia Cup 2008 has permitted Pakistan to replace injured fast bowler Umar with Abdur Rauf.

The committee comprising Zakir Khan (chairman), KK Haridas and Iqbal Sikander agreed to the request from the Pakistan management. Abdur Rauf will join the Pakistan team for the rest of the tournament. Gul was ruled out with a rib cage injury.

Scoreboard

Bangladesh

T Iqbal c Dhoni b Sharma 55

Nazimuddin c Ojha b Singh 6

M Ashraful c Ojha b Gony 20

R Hasan b Ojha 25

M Rahim c Dhoni b Ojha 22

A Kapali c Ojha b Gony 115

Mahmudullah not out 26

F Reza not out 0

Extras (lb 5, w 9) 14

Total (6 wickets; 50 overs) 283

FoW: 1-19, 2-66, 3-102, 4-120, 5-169, 6-281

Bowling: RP Singh 10-1-65-1, M Gony 8-0-65-2, I Sharma 10-0-48-1, P Ojha 10-0-43-2, Y Pathan 10-0-44-0, Y Singh 2-0-13-0

India

G Gambhir c Mortaza b Reza 90

R Uthappa b Shahadat Hossain 2

R Sharma c Reza b Hossain 22

S Raina not out 116

Y Singh not out 36

Extras (lb 11, w 7) 18

Total (3 wickets; 43.2 overs) 284

FoW: 1-14, 2-56, 3-195

Bowling: M Mortaza 9-0-55-0, S Hossain 9-0-60-2, Mahmudullah 6-0-35-0, F Reza 6-0-38-1, A Razzak 9.2-0-59-0, A Kapali 4-0-26-0