Gambhir powers India to 284; hosts make late inroads

Dhaka, May 12 (UNI) A delectable century by Gautam Gambhir and butter-fingered Bangladesh assured that Indians reached an imposing 284 for eight against the hosts in the second of the three-match ODI series at the Mirpur stadium here today.

Dravid called correctly today and chose to bat on a wicket that looked flat and good for batting. India got off to a steady start, but Sehwag perished early.

Gambhir, however, did not disappoint and vindicated the selector's faith.

Bangladesh would not be unhappy with the way things ended as India scored just 63 runs of the last nine overs, losing four wickets.

Gambhir played an almost flawless innings as he clipped the balls on the leg for boundaries, and drove and cut with equal ease to reach 101 off 113 deliveries, before being bowled by Syed Russel to one that stayed low.

The Delhi sothpaw having completed his ton tried to open up but played all over.

He enjoyed two fruitful partnerships with Dhoni and Yuvraj to fortify India's innings. While the former yielded 87 runs of 109 balls, the latter yielded 44 runs of just 38 deliveries.

The highlight of the innings was the way he paced it. Never looking in a hurry, he went about collecting runs in singles but sent the loose balls to the boundaries as well.

Two years for his second century after the first against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad, was worth it. The only time he floundered was on 95 when he drove uppishly to Saqibul Hasan but the bolwer failed to grab. At that time, Gambhir was playing with a runner following cramps in his left leg.

Skipper Dravid who came in at the fall of Yuvraj Singh, never got a chance to open up as he ran out of partners. He remained unbeaten on 42 off 47 runs with a boundary.

At the top, the Indian openers again made a false start with Virender Sehwag yet gain failing to learn his lessons quickly.

After a couple of quiet overs, Sehwag decided to open up against Sayed Rasel, hitting the bowler for a six. He mishit the next for two runs and tried the same shot one time too many and holed out to Javed Omar for 21. India were one down for 43.

In walked an edgy Dhoni with Mashraffe Mortaza, back from a lower back injury, all fired up. He squared up Dhoni with the third delivery of the over and induced a genuine edge that fell inches away from a diving wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim.

The next ball he again edged to the first slip. This time the cherry dropping a little short. Two chances given, Dhoni laboured on but the fluency of the last innings had evaporated although he hit a few boundaries.

Dhoni gave his third chance during the 54 ball stay on 26 with a straight forward chance of caught and bowled muffed up by Abdur Razzak but 10 runs later Dhoni's agony ended as Mushfiqur collected a fine catch off Rafique.

Yuvraj came, blasted and departed. He looked to have come in with the mindset of not allowing the spinners to settle down.

A defense mechanism against the turning ball that always finds him wanting. Yuvi's 24 came of 22 balls studded with two sixes and two boundaries.

He was living dangerously and Rafique, too much of a veteran and a wily customer, dropped one short that spun and bounced. Yuvraj played early into the shot and gave a dolly to the bowler.

Mongia came in at a time when India needed acceleration. He scored 17 off 16 before perishing to Razzak. Kaarthick and Chawla departed in a hurry, further stemming the flow of runs for India.

Chawla would like to forget his debut as he was foxed by Razzak who saw him coming down and bowled one wide to be stumped.

The pick of the Bangladeshi bowlers were Sayed Rasel and Md Rafique. Both bowled intelligently varying their line and length to keep the batsmen guessing. The two shared five wickets among themselves, with the latter claiming three.

However, Mashraffe was a disappointment, bowling too far down the leg to the left handers and providing width to the right-handers.

The only over he bowled well was when he troubled Dhoni.

Though the hosts would be happy with the way things ended, taking in three wickets for 20 runs in between the 42 and 45th over, their poor catching will hurt them, having floored as many as four chances.

UNI