Sehwag blitz launches 10th World Cup

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]




NEW DELHI: Virender Sehwag pulverised the Bangladesh attack on Saturday to get India's World Cup bid off to a flying start with a thumping win in the first match of the six-week cricket marathon.

The 10th World Cup, jointly hosted by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, is tipped to be the most open for years but India hammered out an ominous warning in their first innings of the showpiece, scoring a mammoth 370-4.

Big-hitting Sehwag led the way with a stunning 175 despite struggling with injury, while Virat Kohli scored 100 not out as the pair put on 203 for the third wicket.

Bangladesh made a spirited chase of the daunting target before ending at 283-9 with opener Tamim Iqbal making 70 and Shakib Al Hasan playing a captain's knock of 55 off 50 balls in the Group B match.

Sehwag, whose innings was the joint fourth highest individual score in World Cup history, said the victory was sweet revenge for India's humiliating loss to Bangladesh in the 2007 edition that contributed to their early exit.

"It was a good start for the team. I have said this is a revenge game and we have won. I have said before Bangladesh are not good in Tests, but they can compete in ODIs, but today they could not," Sehwag said.

"I was looking to bat long, maybe get 100 in 30 overs and then go on," added Sehwag, who needed a runner late in his innings.

Earlier, Bangladesh came to a virtual standstill as thousands of fans enjoyed a carnival atmosphere inside and outside the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka.

Huge crowds, wearing national team shirts of green and red, had jammed the streets leading to the 25,000-seat stadium since Friday night, hoping for a repeat of their team's famous five-wicket win over India in 2007.

Security is tight for the 14-team tournament with authorities desperate to avoid any repeat of the deadly 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team that still haunts the sport.

Around 20,000 members of Bangladesh's elite paramilitary force the Rapid Action Battalion and regular officers were deployed in Dhaka for the first match, police spokesman M. Sohail said.

"All cricket venues, airports, the nine official hotels and transport for all the teams and officials fall under our security blanket," Sohail said.

Memories are still fresh of the attack in March 2009 when gunmen ambushed the team bus carrying Sri Lanka's Test squad in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

Eight people were killed and seven Sri Lankan players and their assistant coach injured in the attack, which led to Pakistan's removal by the International Cricket Council as a co-host of the World Cup.

Cricket fever has gripped Bangladesh, which is co-hosting the World Cup for the first time.

All businesses, private offices and schools have been either partly shut or completely closed since Thursday when the opening ceremony was held.

The tournament is the biggest sporting event the impoverished country of 146 million has hosted since it won independence four decades back.

Local television channels have stopped regular programming and switched to virtual round-the-clock discussions on cricket.

On Friday, at least 100,000 people -- some with young children -- visited Dhaka's western suburb of Mirpur just to soak up the atmosphere around the stadium.

"People have gone crazy. They were dancing late into the night, shouting Bangladesh and the names of the players," local police chief Kazi Wajidul Alam said.

"It's a big national celebration. Young boys blew car horns and vuvuzelas, some took family photographs in front of the illuminations around the stadium."

Hamida Hossain, 45, who came from Old Dhaka to join the carnival, said: "I have never seen such a festive atmosphere before. People are singing and dancing as if we had achieved something special." (AFP)