(REUTERS) – Virender Sehwag turned match-winning bowler and his opening partner Gautam Gambhir scored a stubborn 82 to steer India to a comfortable six-wicket win over Bangladesh in their Asia Cup match yesterday. Sehwag took four for six with his occasional off-spin in Bangladesh’s 167 from 34.5 overs. India then reached their victory target in 30.4 overs for the loss of four wickets to earn themselves a bonus point.
Man-of-the-match Gambhir batted for 31 of those overs and was dismissed with India needing only 10 runs for victory.
Sehwag sparked off a sudden batting collapse as Bangladesh, who won the toss and batted first, tumbled from a promising 155 for four to 167 all out. They lost their last six wickets for 12 runs and the final four without any addition to the total.
Sehwag’s previous best bowling was also in Sri Lanka when he returned figures of three for 25 against South Africa in 2002.
Bangladesh got off to a flying start when openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes raced to 35 off 2.5 overs before Praveen Kumar made the breakthrough by getting Tamim caught in the covers for 22. Bangladesh maintained a steady run rate of nearly six an over until Sehwag was brought into the attack in the 31st over.

BANGLADESH innings
T. Iqbal c Raina b Kumar    22
I. Kayes c Sehwag b Nehra    37
M. Ashraful c Kumar b Nehra    20
M. Rahim c Dhoni b Sehwag    30
S. Al Hasan b Harbhajan    7
Mahmudullah c Dhoni b Jadeja    23
N. Islam c Dhoni b Sharma    3
S. Shuvo lbw b Sehwag    4
M. Mortaza not out    0
S. Islam lbw b Sehwag    0
S. Rasel b Sehwag    0
Extras: (lb-2, w-19)    21
Total: (all out, 34.5 overs)    167
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-81, 3-88, 4-100, 5-155, 6-160, 7-167, 8-167, 9-167.
Bowling: Kumar 7-0-38-1 (w-2), Zaheer 5-1-29-0 (w-1), Nehra 4-0-28-2 (w-2), Harbhajan 7-0-32-1 (w-11), Jadeja 8-0-27-1, Sehwag 2.5-0-6-4 (w-2), Jadeja 1-0-5-1.
INDIA innings
G. Gambhir lbw b Mortaza    82
V. Sehwag c Rahim b Mortaza    11
V. Kohli stp. Rahim b Shakib    11
R. Sharma lbw b Shakib    0
M. Dhoni not out    38
S. Raina not out    1
Extras: (b-4, lb-6, w-15)    25
Total: (four wickets, 30.4 overs)    168
Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-80, 3-80, 4-158.
Bowling: Mortaza 5.4-0-37-2 (w-5), Rasel 5-0-25-0 (w-5), Shakib 10-0-49-2 (w-5), Islam 6-0-26-0, Shuvo 4-0-21-0.