For any fan that has seen the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag in their heydays playing for India, Friday 5th March 2021 was a special day because the two Indian stalwarts rolled back the clock and took the Bangladeshi bowlers apart in the Road Safety World Series game at Raipur. The Indian opening pair who had given many bowlers nightmares during their active playing career took to the field and seemed they hadn’t missed a beat as a loud and excited crowd at Raipur was treated to vintage batting by Sachin and Sehwag combine.
Bangladesh starts strong but finishes with a low score
Batting first Bangladesh opened with Nazimuddin and Javed Omar, but it was Nazimuddin who gave the Bangladeshis a quick start and went after the Indian bowlers. Javed
Omar was the first to go for 12 stumped by Naman Ojha off Pragyan Ojha thus ending an opening stand of 59. Nazimuddin fell next for 49 as he was castled by Yuvraj Singh and it was a steady procession of wickets from there with Captain Mohammad Rafique falling victim to the Pathan brothers for 1 while Nafees Iqbal fell to the Ojha combine for 7. None of the Bangladeshi batsmen got to double figures as the Indian bowling kept taking wickets at regular intervals and bowled out Bangladesh for a mere 109 two balls short of the stipulated 20 overs. Yuvraj Singh, Vinay Kumar, and Pragyan Ojha picked two wickets each, while Manpreet Gony and Yusuf Pathan picked one wicket each.
Virender Sehwag opens old wounds
10 years ago when India played Bangladesh in the opening game of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, it was Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag who opened the innings for India, and Sehwag had greeted the first-ever ball bowled in the world cup with a crisp drive for four. A decade later now sporting spectacles, the dashing Delhi batsman carted Bangladesh Legends skipper Mohammad Rafique for a boundary to re-open the wounds of a decade earlier. In fact, Sehwag carted the left-arm spinner for 2 fours and 1 six in the first three deliveries of the first over to knock the sails out of the winds. The first over by Rafique cost his team 18 runs and there was no turning back for Sehwag as he unleashed his patented slashes and cuts including a now-famous Upper Cut over the third man boundary for a huge six.
Sachin Tendulkar delights the crowd with some vintage shots
The moment that everyone came to see arrived when during the 14th ball of the Indian innings saw Sachin Tendulkar walk down the wicket drove the ball uppishly for a four and followed it up with yet another crisp back foot crunchy shot for another boundary in the same over. The Indian juggernaut continued when Sehwag smacked fast bowler Alamgir Kabir for a huge six to bring his half-century off mere 20 balls to the delight of the crowd. The best shot came in the 6th over when Sachin Tendulkar walked into a drive for a beautifully struck boundary giving fans some misty-eyed memories. From there it was smooth sailing for the Indian legends as they won the game by ten wickets with 59 balls to go, Sehwag was unbeaten on 80 from 35 deliveries while Sachin Tendulkar was not out on 33 off 26 balls.
You can watch the innings by Sehwag and Sachin against Bangladesh in the Road Safety World Series 2021 in the video embedded below.