New Delhi: It was more the inevitable than the incredulous. Indifference and the "minnow" slur had greeted Dav Whatmore's men when they trooped into the pristine Caribbean Islands. But little did the cricket fraternity know that this very team would go on to plot the downfall of a cricket superpower.
Difference in stature was secondary to the ideas that motivated and empowered Bangladesh.
Confidence dented by pathetic form, Virender Sehwag got Mortaza's perfect off-cutter that took the woodwork. More followed; Uthappa was lured with a fullish one.
Then the body blow; Razzak to Tendulkar. The bat came down like so many times before, but the ball came in more than expected.
Mohammad Rafique's left-arm spin strikes another one; Dravid flicks, misses, and is trapped in front of leg.
Yuvraj and Ganguly hit back briefly. It seemed India will pull through the crisis. But Yuvraj was unable to kill the spin totally; gone for 47.
And the very next over, Ganguly commits sacriliege, and with it, sank Team India's hopes.
"We thought we would be positive and go out there and put the runs on the board and make it difficult for them to chase later on in the afternoon. It didn't work out that way because we lost wickets in a flurry toward the end which probably kept us short by 30-40 runs," India captain Rahul Dravid had said after the demoralising win.
Zaheer took out Nafees early on, but a 17-year-old boy shows that all it takes is courage to win.
A super punch through point, and then charging down to clear mid-offf - Tamim Iqbal plants himself on the cricket map with authority. Iqbal murders the Indians with a savage attack, leaving Greg Chappell to contemplate a new elixir to rev up his team.
Mushfiqur and Saqibul compounded the humiliation as a teen trio with virtually no international exposure brought Team India to a reality
Dravid's wards were avoiding.
"I think if we keep beating big teams like that and no one will say, 'Bangladesh caused an upset', people will say 'Bangladesh won the game'," Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar told the same news conference.
As the young lions cantered home, the truth was driven home hard to Indian cricket's posterboys. Whatmore's band of big boys claimed their biggest scalp.
| Ads by Google |
| Ads by Google | ||
