Date-stamped : 12 Apr95 - 10:39 ASIA CUP 95: Bangladesh v India Sharjah, 5 April 1995 Prabhakar and Tendulkar spur India to success Openers Manoj Prabhakar and Sachin Tendulkar lashed 72 off 58 deliveries to power India to a nine-wicket win over Bangladesh in the opening match of the Asia Cup on Wednesday. Prabhakar hit an unbeaten 53 and Tendulkar stroked 48 from 31 balls as India swept home at 164 for one in 27.5 overs after dismissing Bangladesh for 163 in 44.4 of their 50 overs. Driving and pulling handsomely, Tendulkar dominated his first-wicket partnership with Prabhakar, the pair reaching 50 in 33 deliveries. Tendulkar had struck one six and nine fours when he was bowled by left-arm spinner Mohammed Rafique, his dismissal margi- nally slowing the tempo of the innings. Man-of-the-match Prabhakar, who also took two for 43 with his medium pacers, and Navjot Sidhu, who sped to an unbeaten 56 off 51 balls, completed victory by batting with controlled aggres- sion. Bangladesh`s batsmen had earlier lacked the experience and ap- plication to get on top of a tidy Indian attack. Captain Akram Khan (24) and Aminul Islam (30) briefly showed signs of casting off their shackles, and tailender Saiful Islam provided a flourish with 22 not out off 29 balls. Source :: Reuter Contributed by azzie (alak@gsbux1.uchicago.edu) ====> more Easy Victory for India - S.M.Gavaskar The Indian team sauntered to an easy victory in the first match of the Asia Cup. The Bangladesh team simply found that the Indian team packed too many guns for them to do anything. Considering the fact that the Indian players have had a tough season at home the game against Bangladesh must have come as a relief of sorts. There was not much tension in the game and so they could approach it in a far more relaxed frame of mind than otherwise. If Bangladesh had got off to a start and then gone on to a big score then the tension would have been back but though the In- dian bowlers did not go flat out the Bangladesh batsmen could not take advantage of it. Prabhakar and Srinath bowled well within themselves though making sure while doing so that they did not lose their rhythm. The one cause for worry was Srinath being warned for running on to the danger area of the wicket and that will now prey on his mind for the rest of the week. All he needs is to get in the nets and iron it out there. The Bangladesh batsmen all got off to a start of sorts but just did not seem to know how to go about from there. They allowed Chatterjee to get on top by refusing to look for singles and that allowed the debutant to settle in to a good rhythm. Vaidya was also lucky that he did not go for more runs. He bowls some good deliveries but follows it up with a bad ball which goes for runs and thus eases the pressure that has been built up on the batsmen. Concentration is as vital for bowlers as for batsmen and it is when a bowler is tiring that his concentration slackens and he begins to bowl some loose stuff and he gets punished. A total of 163 was never going to be a challenging one for In- dia but Tendulkar made it look even smaller with his batting. The more one sees him the more one is convinced that he has more ability than a Greg Chappell and Vivian Richards combined. He has the classi- cal correctness of Greg and the onside strokes as well, and like Richards he has a destructive streak in him that must make bowlers wish they were elsewhere. However, whether he has the ruthless air that both Chappell and Richards had is not yet evident for unlike the other two, who, once they got going seldom came back without a century to their name, the little champion often returns with not even a half-century to his credit. If Tendulkar develops that killer instinct like Richards then he will go on to become the most destructive batsman the cricket world has known. Mind you, he is still only 22, so there is plenty of time for him to develop that but he should also remember that with so much cricket being played time also is running out pretty quickly. Both Prabhakar and Sidhu utilized the opportunity of a benign wicket and a friendly attack to help themselves to half- centuries. Nothing like spending time at the wicket to get con- fidence and these two experienced players did just that. They too have an important role to play in the tournament and it is good to see them understand- ing it and getting as much practice as they can. Bangladesh have a lot to learn and there must have been plenty they would have learnt from the game. If they put what they have learnt into practice in their next games they could yet put up an interesting performance. Source :: IndiaWorld online Contributed by Sadiq.Yusuf (sidi@iastate.edu)