Take Bangladesh lightly at your own peril

In the build-up to the Bangladesh-India series, the official broadcaster ran a rather interesting promo video to spice up the bilateral series with the tagline "Bacche ab bade ho gaye hain" (Kids have now grown up). And as has been the case with many of their promos for previous bilateral series, this one too drew flak of the social sphere for being a bit too cheeky.
Scorecard
But, after Bangladesh's big win over India in the first ODI at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on Thursday, the creative team of the official broadcaster would be boasting, "We told you so."
Add to this the Rohit Sharma no-ball controversy of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, which pretty much engulfed the whole of Bangladesh for several weeks, this win paves the way for various cliched headlines like, Bangladesh avenge WC loss; revenge is a dish best served cold; and what not.
But credit must be given where it is due and Bangladesh thoroughly deserved the win for they played better cricket on the given day, and not because they grew up all of a sudden after the World Cup loss. Bangladesh had build momentum ahead of the India series with a historic series win over Pakistan and a quarter-final finish in the 2015 World Cup prior to that, and the way they applied themselves against their more illustrious opponents on Thursday can be best described as authoritative.
With a talented bunch of young cricketers at their disposal now to support the proven performers in Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mashrafe Mortaza, Bangladesh have finally arrived.
To post their first ever score of 300 plus against India was a commendable effort to start with. Partnering the experienced Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar stole the slow with his gracefully batting at the top and despite a rollicking start, when the hosts found themselves 146 for 4 in 23.3 overs, Bangladesh needed someone to hold fort and the experienced Shakib had the company of another promising youngster in Sabbir Rahman and the duo pulled Bangladesh out of trouble and set them en route to a good total.
Indian bowlers were not at their best, but neither were they lacklustre. Bangladesh batsman batted with authority and freedom and paced their innings well. For this Indian batting line-up, a target of 308 should not have been a tough ask at all. They have chased down scores of 300 plus with ease earlier and against better sides. But, Bangladesh trumped their Asian neighbours in the bowling department as well.
The four-pronged pace attack of Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Mashrafe Mortaza and Rubel Hossain put in an inspired show to put India on the back foot early on and managed to sustain the pressure with regular strikes and sharp fielding. Similar to how Taskin Ahmed had made a telling impact on his ODI debut against India at Mirpur nearly a year back with a five-wicket haul, Mustafizur claimed 5 for 50 on his ODI debut on Thursday. While Taskin's effort was overshadowed by Stuart Binny's record-breaking 6 for 4, Mustafizur's performance helped Bangladesh register their fourth win against India in 32 meetings between the two teams.
Once again, India's batting was nothing special, but nor was it out rightly disappointing. Bangladesh earned all the ten Indian wickets to fall and celebrated the 79-run victory with fervour in front of a jubilant home crowd and India would know that they cannot take the Tigers lightly, a fact well reminded by the official broadcasters before the start of the series.
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