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.

SELF-BELIEF

So impressive has Ojha’s recent Twenty20 form been, so often has he stepped into the post-match press conferences holding on to the Man-of-the -Match trophies, that it was hard to believe he was making his international debut in this format.

His great strength — like much of this team — has been an incredible self-belief, a willingness to change the pace, and even toss the occasional one up. Much of that confidence, he admits, stems from his performances in the Indian Premier League, as well as the time he has spent as part of the one-day squad over the last 12 months.

“I think my ability to vary the pace of my deliveries has been the key to my success. Whenever I flight my deliveries, I’m able to exercise control on batsmen,” Ojha said. “It was quite chilly, but thanks to IPL, I was high on confidence and backed myself.”

Ojha did point out though that it was more of a team effort than it looked like at a glance. There was Rohit Sharma’s quickfire 36 at the top, Gautam Gambhir’s half-century that held things together, Yuvraj Singh’s incredible 18-ball 41 that sparked the final assault and Irfan Pathan’s last-over cameo that beefed up the total.

All the bowlers did reasonable jobs as well, while Yuvraj took a couple of blinders (and dropped a dolly) to round off a good day.

STRONG BATTING

Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons felt the Indians would be tough to break down. “They keep coming at you, especially with the bat,” he said. “You pick up a few wickets and Yuvraj comes in and hits sixes. You think you’ve pegged them back again and someone comes and blasts sixes in the last over. The batting looks very strong.” Siddons said.

That is the crux of why India have been tagged favourites: It may only take two or three players to win a T20 game; India have 11 who can change the course of matches.

The only blot in Saturday’s performance was Dhoni’s own innings at No 3. He did strike the ball cleanly, but was unable to find the gaps and the 21-ball 26 did take the momentum away from India briefly. With Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina lower down, Dhoni could consider fiddling around a bit if the gaps in the field continue to elude him.