On this day, 10 years back, Bangladesh created one of the biggest upsets in the history of the One Day World Cup when they beat India by 5 wickets in a Group game at Port of Spain. India, grouped along with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bermuda were playing their first match of the World Cup and expected an easy game with their opposition being neighbours, Bangladesh. However, the usually friendly neighbours had a brave, young side up their sleeve who turned the match around.
The beginning
India, led by Rahul Dravid, won the toss and opted to bat first on a pitch laden with moisture. Bangladesh had some wily bowlers in their arsenal and they relished the opportunity to take on a strong Indian batting line-up on a juicy wicket.
Mashrafe Mortaza had Virender Sehwag's stumps in shambles in the third over of the game bringing Robin Uthappa to the crease, who also fell to the Tigers seamer few overs later.
India, however, still had Ganguly at the crease and Sachin Tendulkar had strode out to the middle. But the Bangladesh bowlers were determined to have a field day. The experienced left-arm spinner, Abdur Razzaq, then had Tendulkar caught behind off an inside edge and suddenly India were staring down the barrel at 40/3.
When Mohammad Rafique, the other left-arm spinner in the side had the Indian skipper plumb in front, India were reduced to 72/4 with a large chunk of their batting back in the hut.
The rebuild that faded off quickly
Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly rebuilt the Indian innings slowly. The spinners kept things tight and used the moisture to skid the ball into the batsmen. Ganguly was proceeding at tortoise-pace with his 25 runs taking 70 odd balls.
Yuvraj was attacking from the other end and slammed a couple of fours and a huge six to race into the 40s. Ganguly remained sedate but Abdur Razzaq provided the crucial break when he had Yuvraj sweeping to fine-leg for 47. The 85 run partnership broken, Rafique proceeded to remove Ganguly for 66 in the next over and three balls later had Dhoni cutting to short third man for a duck.
The three left-arm spinners
Bangladesh had three left-arm slow bowlers at their disposal- Mohammad Rafique, Abdur Razzaq and Shakib-al-Hasan. The three kept a leash on India's scoring rate while disrupting the rhythm of the innings with frequent wickets.
A young Shakib-al-Hasan was very tight with his lines although he had no wickets to show for. The experienced Rafique bowled with discipline and guile to pick up the crucial wickets of Dravid, Ganguly and Dhoni.
Razzaq, possibly the best of the three on the day, had Tendulkar early in the game and barely gave anything away to the Indian batsmen in a tidy 10 over spell that went for just 38. He also dismissed a rampant Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan to complete a three-wicket haul.
Mortaza led the way with four wickets as India were bowled out for 191 on a juicy pitch. But Bangladesh knew that the task was only half done as the opposition had a slew of slow bowlers themselves.
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Tamim Iqbal, the new Jayasuriya
18-year-old opener, Tamim Iqbal, started the proceedings for Bangladesh in flamboyant style. He was all over the Indian pacers wielding his bat like a sword. A six off Zaheer Khan over mid-wicket whilst coming down the wicket dancing stamped his class and Bangladesh knew that they had found a superstar.
Tamim raced to a fine half-century as Bangladesh raced to 69 in 13 overs. Munaf Patel had Tamim caught behind to halt the minnows' progress but they had another young talent in Mushfiqur Rahim at the crease.
Munaf Patel was the only Indian bowler to command any semblance of respect as he got the new ball to move around. Zaheer had his moments against Tamim's partner but the 18-year-old was all over the Indian pacer.
The Shakib-Rahim stand that sealed the game
Even after losing Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh were undeterred and continued to pile on India's misery through young all-rounder, Shakib-al-Hasan and keeper, Mushfiqur Rahim.
Rahim was a picture of composure in his 107 ball half-century while Shakib was more entertaining, smashing Munaf Patel back over his head twice. Rahim charged the spinners occasionally and timed two wonderful hits over the fence while continuing to milk the singles.
The duo took Bangladesh to within touching distance of victory when Sehwag broke through with the wicket of Shakib. He had skipper Habibul Bashar as well to trigger hopes of an unlikely comeback but Rahim wasn't letting this one through.
He remained unbeaten as Bangladesh completed an extraordinary victory, one laced with outstanding performances in all three departments. India would exit in the first round after their loss to Sri Lanka while Bangladesh had their moments in the World Cup by progressing to the Super Eights where they would beat South Africa.
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