Tigers send India packing
The 2007 World Cup was a tournament of upsets. Over the length of the tournament there were three upets, four if Ireland’s Super Eights victory over Test playing Bangladesh is considered. The most important of all these upsets was the one that saw the game’s financial superpower, India, exit the tournament. On March 17, 2007, every Bangladeshi with access to a TV or a radio was glued to the transmission from half a world away, where their countrymen were slaying one of the giants of international cricket.
It was an emotional time for Bangladeshi cricket. The highly popular cricketer Manzarul Islam had died in a road accident only two days before. The Tigers promised to dedicate a victory against India to Manzarul.
India chose to bat after winning the toss, and were immediately shaken out of any complacency by a fiery Mashrafe Bin Mortaza bowling regularly at a 140 kilometres per hour.
Mashrafe blew away opener Virender Sehwag and number three Robin Uthappa with pace and movement, and when Abdur Razzak snared the prize scalp of Sachin Tendulkar in his first over it was clear that something special was on the cards. Three for 40 became four for 72 as left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique pinned Indian skipper Rahul Dravid in front.
Yuvraj and Ganguly joined hands in an 85-run partnership and just when it looked like they were going to wrest the initiative away from the minnows the spinners trapped the Indians in a web.
First Yuvraj, who had scored freely till then, holed out to Habibul Bashar with the score on 157 and then India proceeded to lose their next four wickets with the addition of two runs as top scorer Ganguly (66), Dhoni (0), Harbhajan (0), and Agarkar (0) all fell within twelve deliveries of each other. The last wicket pair of Munaf Patel and Zaheer Khan added a quick 32 to take India to 191 all out, with Mashrafe bagging four wickets for 38 runs.
After Mashrafe’s show during the first half, it was all Tamim as the left-hander played a dazzling cameo to score a quickfire 51 with seven fours and two sixes. He was particularly severe on Zaheer Khan whom he hit for fifteen runs in an over including a gigantic six over mid-wicket. He shared a 45-run second wicket stand with Mushfiqur Rahim but fell soon after reaching his half-century, caught behind off Munaf Patel. Aftab Ahmed (8) quickly followed him but Shakib Al Hasan joined Mushfique, who was promoted up the order, to steady the ship, and put together a solid 84-run partnership that all but sealed the deal.
After Shakib’s dismissal for 53 Mushfiq (56 not out) and Mohammad Ashraful steered the ship home, and Bangladesh completed a landmark victory with five wickets and nine balls to spare. In Dhaka, the celebrations went long into the night.
