Wisden
4th match

Bangladesh v India, 2011-12

Mohammad Isam

At Mirpur, March 16, 2012 (day/night). Bangladesh won by five wickets. Bangladesh 4pts. Toss: Bangladesh.

Under the Dhaka sun, Tendulkar reached his much-hyped oasis after a drought lasting a year (and four days). Such was a nation's collective sense of relief and release, it seemed almost incidental that his 100th international hundred came in a match India would contrive to lose. The search for this statistical nirvana - and the ballyhoo which had accompanied almost every innings since the 99th, against South Africa during the 2011 World Cup - slowed Tendulkar down late on and, with the Bangladeshi bowlers keeping the big hitters quiet at the end, India's final total was imposing rather than impossible. Between the 31st and 40th overs, they managed only 49 runs, with Tendulkar moving from 78 to 95 before finally reaching his milestone off the fourth ball of the 44th over; in all he faced 147 deliveries. Bangladesh, by contrast, collected 73 in that ten-over block, which put them in the box seat, and they completed their mammoth chase - their largest to beat a higher-ranked side - in the final over. Shakib Al Hasan clubbed five fours and two sixes, and Mushfiqur Rahim picked up the baton with 46 off 25 balls, fuelled by a cluster of sixes: in the 48th over, he flicked Pathan over midwicket and hammered the subsequent full toss, before climbing into Kumar in the 49th. Teamwork has rarely been Bangladesh's forte but, on a night that should have belonged exclusively to Tendulkar, they ganged up to steal at least some of the headlines.

Man of the Match: Shakib Al Hasan.

© John Wisden & Co.