LIVE TV
India
Recommended Stories
Mirpur (Bangladesh): Virender Sehwag unleashed a merciless assault on the hapless Bangladeshi bowlers to smash 175 as India piled up an imposing 370 for four in their opening World Cup group-B match here on Saturday.
Kohli also had his moment of glory in the run deluge by hitting his fifth ODI century as the Delhi duo stitched a rollicking 203 runs for the third wicket on a placid track at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium.
It was a virtual carnage as Sehwag, who defied cramps and batted with a runner after completing his century, and Kohli gave a stunning exhibition of strokeplay to leave the hosts in a daze.
Sehwag hammered as many as 14 boundaries and five sixes during his 140-ball 175 while Kohli`s unbeaten 83-ball 100 contained eigtht boundaries and two sixes.
Sachin Tendulkar (28) and Gautam Gambhir (39) got the starts but could not capitalise on it, though Tendulkar was distrinctly unlucky to be run out.
Bangladesh now have a daunting task of scoring at a stiff asking rate of 7.40 runs an over to pull off an upset victory like they had done in the 2007 edition in the West Indies.
Sehwag set the tempo by spanking the very first ball off paceman Shafiul Islam through cover to the boundary to begin the innings on a rousing note. He also clobbered the last ball to the boundary as the first over yielded 12 runs.
His opening partner Tendulkar also got into the act quickly by hitting Rubel Hossain`s second ball to the fence, a delectable flick to the square leg boundary.
The two Bangladeshi new ball bowlers strayed in line and length and were punished by both Sehwag and Tendulkar who gave India a flying start.
With runs coming quickly, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan introduced his left arm spinner Abdur Razzak as early as the fifth over of the innings in a bid to get the breakthrough and check the run flow.
Razzak managed to stem the flow of runs as he bowled a tidy line and length initially before Sehwag and Tendulkar used their feet to attack him.
