Sehwag gets his revenge

DHAKA (AP):

Big-hitting India opener Virender Sehwag is making no secret of the fact he went into yesterday's World Cup opener against Bangladesh seeking revenge for a defeat four years ago.

"I think so," Sehwag said, when asked whether the Group B game was indeed the revenge match it had been portrayed as being by the media and fans.

India suffered a shock loss to Bangladesh in Port of Spain that led to India's early exit from the 2007 World Cup.

Sehwag smashed a belligerent 175 yesterday as India rattled up 370-4 at the Mirpur Stadium, adding 203 runs for the third wicket with Virat Kohli, who made 100 not out.

Bangladesh were then restricted to 283-9 as favourites India made a strong start to the 14-team tournament.

Good pitch

Sehwag, who was bowled by Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan in the closing stages, said the pitch had been easy to bat on.

"We were scoring at 10 runs an over and decided to be careful because a few wickets could make things difficult for the new batsmen," Sehwag said. "The field was spread, it was easy for me to rotate the strike and I only went for my shots later on."

The Delhi batsman, who has scored two triple-centuries in Test cricket, said he was still looking to play a full 50 overs in the World Cup after having declared his intention to do so before the tournament.

"My strike rate was more than 100. I am happy to have played 47 overs and though I knew getting to 200 was not a possibility, I was still planning to bat out the 50 overs," he said.

Dew factor

Sehwag said it was good to have lost the toss, on hindsight, because India too would have elected to field like Bangladesh.

"I think we would have fielded first because of the dew factor, which makes bowling difficult for both pace bowlers and spinners," he said.

"Bangladesh is a good one-day side and can disappoint any team. But Virat Kohli played very well. He is a mature batsman and does not throw away his wicket."

About the mix-up that resulted in the stumping of Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag said he had probably made the mistake of not looking towards Tendulkar.

"We had discussed that we will take singles and that is why he came for the run. But he was not angry with me for not responding and said what was important was that we won the game for the country."