1st ODI: When Bangladesh sprung a 4-pacer surprise

MIRPUR (Dhaka): Scribes, scorers, commentators, administrators and even former players were left scratching their heads while trying to recollect when Bangladesh had last fielded four specialist pacers in an ODI.
After a frantic search, it was revealed that Bangladesh had fielded four pacers - Gholam Nousher, Saimur Rahman, Golam Faruq and Jahangir Shah - in their first two ODIs against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the 1986 Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.
It was certainly a first by Bangladesh against India with Mashrafe, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman lining up to inflict early damage on Dhoni's men. The pitch, though, turned out to be a batsman's paradise and offered no purchase to pacers or spinners.
It was quite a contrast as Bangladesh had fielded four specialist spinners in the one-off Test against India in Fatullah last week. The Bangladesh team management, in fact, had drawn plenty of flak for playing just one pacer -Mohammad Shahid -in the Test that was ruined by rain.
Spectators miss out on Tamim-Soumya partnership:
The threat of rain kept spectators away from the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday even though the Bangla Tigers got off to a rollicking start against India.
When Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar launched Bangladesh's innings after Mortaza won the toss and elected to bat first, the 25,000-capacity stadium was only one-third full.
As the duo spanked the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground, more spectators came in. But the stands were only half full when a light drizzle forced a stoppage, with the Bangladesh score reading 1191 after 15.4 overs.
The lower tiers of the stadium remained sparsely populated despite all tickets for the match being sold out within hours of going on sale.