Sunday morning, sleepy Nottingham woke up to a steady drizzle. Dull, grey, windy and damp, the weather prompted faces to slip easily into fierce scowls; a complete contrast to the mood in the Indian camp.

India had beaten Bangladesh by 25 runs on Saturday night, a result as comprehensive as they come in this miniature format of the game, all but ensuring smooth passage to the Super Eights stage of the second edition of the World T20 championships.

In Robin Hood’s land, Bangladesh had threatened, briefly, to steal from the rich. Tamim Iqbal and Junaid Siddique had started off their pursuit of 180 in real earnest but then, in one over, Pragyan Ojha killed off their challenge. The first delivery he bowled was on the shorter side and Shakib Al Hasan — who played a lead role when the minnows had beaten India in the 2007 World Cup — went for the pull. The ball skidded on, Shakib got the top edge, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni completed a simple catch.

Fifth ball of the over, Siddique charged down the track; beaten in flight, his slog sweep went only as far as Harbhajan Singh at deep mid-wicket.

The game was safely in India’s pocket, before Ojha went on to add two more scalps to his kitty, finishing with impressive figures of 4-0-21-4.

England had slipped up against The Netherlands, Australia had been blown away by Chris Gayle, while New Zealand were almost caught napping by Scotland; India, though, skipped past their opening hurdle with enough confidence to up the already high expectations piled on the team.

... contd.