High profile Indians rattled by Bangladesh,bowled out for paltry 1

Port of Spain, Mar 17 (UNI) A stubborn 66 by former Skipper Sourav Ganguly and his 85-run fifth wicket stand with Yuvraj Singh saved India the blushes as Bangladesh ripped apart the former champions, bundling them out for 191 runs in 49.3 overs in their opening Group B league match of the cricket World Cup at Queen's Park Oval here today.

Even in their worst nightmares, India would not have imagined such a start to their campaign in the showpiece event as they were unable to bat out their 50 overs against Bangladesh and the Men in Blue were bundled out for their lowest ever score against their eastern neighbours.

Captain Habibul Bashar had warned all the other sides not to take his side lightly, and certainly on the evidence of what we have seen here so far, they will be hard to shake off.

The death of team-mate Manjurul Islam at home yesterday in a road accident also seemed to have fired the team up, for they put up an inspired performance today.

That the Indians did eventually manage 191 runs on board was also courtesy some sweet hitting from Yuvraj (47, 58 balls, three fours, onr six) and his 85-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Ganguly. At the very end, the unlikely duo of Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel put on a crucial 32-run satnd for the last wicket.

However, Yuvraj's dismissal opened the floodgates for the second time in the innings and suddenly it was all over with left-arm spinners Mohammad Rafique and Abdur Razzak picking up four wickets for just two runs between the 43rd and 45th overs.

Yuvraj took his time to settle down and gradually opened his shoulders. It took him down the track to the left-arm spin of Mohammad Rafique that deposited the ball in the Party Stand to show that he meant business. But in trying a sweep shot, he only popped up the ball to Bashar at fine leg. It was the signal for disaster.

Ganguly (66, 129 balls, four fours) hit Rafique straight to Razzak at mid-on, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (0) gave Aftab Ahmed catching practice at short third man and Harbhajan Singh (0) was bowled through the gate by Razzak.

And when Ajit Agarkar (0) was caught behind by the returning Mashrafe Mortaza, it was the fifth wicket to fall with just those two runs being added to the scoreboard.

Mortaza finished with 4 for 38, Razzak had 3 for 38 and Rafique with 3 for 35.

UNI