Virender Sehwag unleashed a merciless assault on the hapless Bangladeshi bowlers to smash 175 as India piled up an imposing 370 for four in their opening World Cup group-B match on Saturday.
Put into bat, Sehwag virtually toyed with the insipid bowling to not only notch up his 14th ODI century with a breathtaking array of strokes but also steer India to a commanding position along with Virat Kohli who completed his century in the penultimate ball of the innings.
Kohli also had his moment of glory in the run deluge by hitting his fifth ODI century as the Delhi duo stitched a rollicking 203 runs for the third wicket on a placid track at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium.
It was a virtual carnage as Sehwag, who defied cramps and batted with a runner after completing his century, and Kohli gave a stunning exhibition of strokeplay to leave the hosts in a daze.
Sehwag hammered as many as 14 boundaries and five sixes during his 140-ball 175 while Kohli's unbeaten 83-ball 100 contained eigtht boundaries and two sixes.
Sachin Tendulkar (28) and Gautam Gambhir (39) got the starts but could not capitalise on it, though Tendulkar was distrinctly unlucky to be run out.
Bangladesh now have a daunting task of scoring at a stiff asking rate of 7.40 runs an over to pull off an upset victory like they had done in the 2007 edition in the West Indies.
Sehwag set the tempo by spanking the very first ball off paceman Shafiul Islam through cover to the boundary to begin the innings on a rousing note. He also clobbered the last ball to the boundary as the first over yielded 12 runs.
His opening partner Tendulkar
also got into the act quickly by hitting Rubel Hossain's second ball to the fence, a delectable flick to the square leg boundary.The two Bangladeshi new ball bowlers strayed in line and length and were punished by both Sehwag and Tendulkar who gave India a flying start.
With runs coming quickly, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan introduced his left arm spinner Abdur Razzak as early as the fifth over of the innings in a bid to get the breakthrough and check the run flow.
Razzak managed to stem the flow of runs as he bowled a tidy line and length initially before Sehwag and Tendulkar used their feet to attack him.
Just when the two openers seemed to be cruising along comfortably, Tendulkar (28) was run out after a terrible mix up with Sehwag. He pushed the ball towards wide mid-on and called Sehwag for a single but the Delhi batsman did not respond.
Both the batsmen ended up on the bowler's end as Bangladesh skipper Shakib stopped the ball brilliantly and threw it towards the wicketkeeper, who dislodged the bails, sparking celebrations in the stands.
Gautam Gambhir was his usual confident self, and relied on singles and twos to build up his innings and soon with Sehwag he raised the 50-run partnership.
Shakib tried all his slow bowlers but there was no stopping the Indian duo. The ploy to introduce Mahmudullah though worked as he cleaned up Gambhir (39) with a faster delivery.
Another Indian failed to convert a good start but it had no effect on Sehwag, who from the other end kept taking bowlers to task.
Virat Kohli, who has been in good form of late, joined Sehwag in the middle and the Delhi duo kept consolidating India's position.
Sehwag took a single off Mahmuddullah to notch up his 14th ODI century and his second in the World Cup, getting a standing applause by his teammates and the support staff in the dressing room. His 100 came off 94 balls.
After Sehwag completed the century, both the batsmen opted for the batting powerplay and virtually plundered runs at will, picking up Shafiul Islam for special treatment by clobbering him for 18 runs in one over.
Abdur Razzak also came in for a battering as Sehwag smashed him for two boundaries and a six in one over to accelerate the pace of scoring.
While Sehwag unleashed his strokes, Kohli played orthodox shots at the other end and completed his 13th ODI half century by taking a single off Rubel Hossain.
Sehwag created many batting records during his scintillating knock. It was the highest score by an Indian batsman against Bangladesh, going past Sourav Ganguly's 135 in 2000 and he also surpassed Tendulkar's 141 which till date was the highest individual score in ODIs in Bangladesh.
Sehwag fell at the same score that the legendary Kapil Dev had made 28 years ago. Shakib bowled a fullish ball angling into Sehwag who got a bottom edge onto his stumps.
Kohli managed to reach his century in the penultimate ball of the innings while the last ball saw Yusuf Pathan being caught by the wicket-keeper off Shafiul Islam.
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