Bangladesh fall short despite late surge

India 245 for 8 (Kaif 80, Dravid 53 beat Bangladesh 234 for 8 (Bashar 65, Mashud 50*) by 11 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary

Mohammad Kaif steadied the Indian innings after early setbacks © Getty Images

In the end, India won by only 11 runs, but the contest was never quite as close as the scoreline suggests. Mohammad Kaif ensured that India recovered from a shaky start and reached a competitive total, before a professional effort in the field took the game beyond Bangladesh's reach. They finished on 234 for 8, but the first one-dayer at Chittagong was actually wrapped up well before the last ball was bowled.

Bangladesh had their moments - the medium-pacers tied the Indian batsmen down in the early stages, Habibul Bashar kept the fight going with a gritty 65, and Khaled Mashud swung merrily to reach 50 off just 39 balls at the end. But as in the Test series, they let the game slip every time they appeared to have some sort of a grasp on it. They walked away smiling with fists pumping, but they had faltered on the big points earlier.

Kaif entered amid a ripple. The top three had fallen to the medium-pacers, who justified their captain's decision to field first: Sourav Ganguly chopped one on to his off stump, Sachin Tendulkar inside-edged a cracking incutter from Nazmul Hossain - the pick of the bowlers - while Yuvraj Singh was unlucky to be given lbw when the ball pitched outside leg. Rahul Dravid hadn't yet scored, two inexperienced men were to follow, and India were wobbling at 45 for 3.

Both Kaif and Dravid went about cementing the cracks by targeting the vacant spaces in the field. The full-tosses were dispatched to the fence, but the bulk of the scoring came through singles and twos. Both batsmen achieved this by knowing the pace of their strokes, gauging the gaps in the field and not letting up on the chance of an extra run. Dravid unveiled several variations of the sweep - the orthodox one to square leg, the lapped deflection to fine leg, and even the slog version, once a trademark of Steve Waugh. They managed 57 singles and six twos in their 128-run stand, and stepped up a gear only after the 36th over.

A few clean hits followed but a rush of wickets put a sudden halt to the acceleration. Kaif survived two chances - both off Khaled Mahmud - but Dravid wasn't as lucky, as Mahmud got his reward for a disciplined spell. After making 53, Dravid got a thin edge while slashing at a wide one (173 for 4).

Both Sridharan Sriram and Mahendra Singh Dhoni missed out - Dhoni was recklessly run out off his very first ball in ODIs - but Ajit Agarkar ensured that all the good work in the middle overs wasn't undone. He added 23 with Kaif, as both batsmen harassed the fielders with their cheeky running, and followed that with a clattering 29-run partnership with Irfan Pathan. The last three overs produced 40 as India darted towards a competitive score.

It seemed to be more than enough as Bangladesh switched to snooze mode in their first 15 overs, managing just 44 for 3. There was one moment in the third over, though, when everyone gaped in jaw-dropping wonder. Mohammad Rafique, promoted to open the batting, slashed a wide one that flew high towards backward point at a scorching pace. At the same time, Yuvraj took off. He timed his jump to micro-second perfection, stretched his left hand out and plucked the ball with his feet almost three feet in the air. The crowd were hushed into silence, Rafique let out a smile.

Nafis Iqbal spent a frustrating 52 balls in the middle, making just 9. He was content to leave most of the deliveries alone and the few strokes that were middled went straight to the fielders. Just when he needed to make the initial struggle count, he was run out. Mohammad Ashraful followed almost immediately, giving Joginder Sharma his first ODI wicket, and the customary collapse seemed imminent.

Bashar and Aftab Ahmed not only prevented that but added 64 in quick time, including 15 in one over from Harbhajan Singh, and after 26 overs Bangladesh had lifted their total to 96 for 3. At the same stage of their innings, India had 94. But Aftab went for one loft too many off Sriram, holing out to long-off. Bashar battled on, and became only the second Bangladesh batsman to reach 1000 ODI runs - Mashud was the first - but his team was always behind the eight-ball.

Mashud smashed his half-century at a stage when the required run-rate was soaring into orbit. He fired off some crisp boundaries and the crowd was given something to cheer. Despite that late charge, though, the scales were always firmly tilted India's way.