Records Fall As Sehwag And Kohli Pummel Bangladesh

19 February 2011
Cricketworld.com
Virat Kohli (left) jumps up to celebrate his century in the World Cup's opening game
©REUTERS/Andrew Biraj/Picture Supplied by Action Images

Virender Sehwag broke a host of records and Virat Kohli also scored a century as India opened the Cricket World Cup 2011 in style by hitting Bangladesh for 370 for four.

Sehwag cracked 175 in 140 balls - a new career-best - while Kohli was unbeaten on exactly 100 as India set a new ground record in Mirpur to put fellow co-hosts Bangladesh in big trouble.

India, and Sehwag in particular, dominated from the first ball - literally, as Sehwag dismissed the tournament's first delivery for four - and he continued in the same vein, going on to hit 14 fours and five sixes in an outstanding innings.

He was brutal and no Bangladesh bowler was spared with the spinners coming in for serious treatment being lofted continually down the ground. Following an injury, he proved more dangerous as he simply tried to hit everything out of the ground - often succeeding.

He hardly let the early run out of Sachin Tendulkar (28) affect him - although Tendulkar was probably at fault as he charged off for a single before realising that Shakib Al Hasan had dived and picked up the ball. With both men at Sehwag's end, Mushfiqur Rahim had an easy task to take off the bails.

Gautam Gambhir then batted fluently to make 39 in 39 balls before he missed a straight delivery from Mahmudullah and was bowled, ending a second-wicket partnership of 83 with Sehwag.

Then the real carnage began as Sehwag expanded to show his full array of strokes and Kohli batted beautifully - almost unnoticed in the shadow of Sehwag's brutality - hitting eight fours and two sixes. The pair added 203 for the third wicket.

Sehwag's hopes of emulating his compatriot Tendulkar and scoring a double-century were finally crushed when he was bowled by Shakib, who was by a long way Bangladesh's most successful bowler - returning one for 61 in ten overs.

Kohli faced just 83 balls, scoring his fifth ODI century to remain unbeaten after Yusuf Pathan (8) fell from the last ball of the innings. Sehwag's innings of 175 was the highest World Cup score since 1999 and equalled Kapil Dev in fourth place overall of World Cup high scores while India's total was the fifth-highest in World Cup history.

Bangladesh had won the toss and chosen to bowl first - aiming to restrict India to around 260. Now they must find an extra 111 runs if they are to repeat their victory of 2007, when the two sides met in the Caribbean.