India defeated Bangladesh in the opening match of the ICC World Cup 2011 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur by 87 runs. India picked up two points from the win.
Shakib Al Hasan won the toss, but surprisingly chose to bowl first. Virender Sehwag started off with a boundary off the first ball of the tournament and there was no stopping for him. He and Sachin Tendulkar (28) added 69 runs for the first wicket before Tendulkar was run out due to some poor calling.
However, Sehwag more than made up for the mistake by registering his highest ODI score. He raced to his fifty off 45 balls and to his century off 94 balls. The pitch was on the slower side and the ball was not coming on to the bat easily. Sehwag played cautiously in the beginning and opened up in the later stages in partnership with Virat Kohli. Sehwag went to score 175 runs off just 140 balls that included 14 fours and five sixes.
After adding 83 runs for the second wicket with Gautam Gambhir (39), Sehwag paired up with Virat Kohli to add 203 runs for the third wicket. Kohli went on to register his first World Cup hundred on his World Cup debut. He remained unbeaten on 100 runs that came from just 83 balls with eight fours and two sixes. India scored 370/4 in their allotted 50 overs.
Chasing 371 runs to win, Bangladesh got off to a superb start with the openers scoring 56 runs in just 6.5 overs. S Sreesanth leaked out 24 runs in his third over and was rightly replaced by Munaf Patel, who picked up Imrul Kayes (34) in his first over.
Junaid Siddique (37) and Tamim Iqbal (70) added 73 runs for the second wicket but consumed 16 overs for the same. Thereafter the run rate kept increasing and Bangladesh lost wickets at regular intervals. Shakib Al Hasan scored a quick 50-ball 55 runs but Bangladesh needed a better effort than that. Only Mushfiqur Rahim (25) and Raqibul Hasan who remained unbeaten on 28 runs reached double figures.
For India, Munaf Patel (4/48) and Zaheer Khan (2/40) returned excellent figures while Sreesanth disappointed giving away 53 runs in his five overs. Sehwag was declared the player of the match for his excellent 175.