Mirpur, Feb 19: It was about four years ago, at the 2007 ICC World Cup in West Indies, that Bangladesh left Indian cricket in despair. Like today’s match, it was India’s first game of that tournament, one which was expected to be a cakewalk. Yet Bangladesh, paying scant attention to India’s pedigreed status, ambushed them in a clinical manner. Having dismissed India for a paltry 191, the underdogs clawed their way to a five-wicket win at Port of Spain to leave India’s campaign in disarray.

It was a Saturday evening that had gone horribly wrong for Indian fans.

Seven members of that India squad were itching to make amends today. Not least among them was Virender Sehwag, whose score of two runs, alongside Sachin Tendulkar’s seven and MS Dhoni’s third-ball duck, had together resulted in India’s ignominious innings total in that tournament.

Sehwag began the Indian innings in the 2011 World Cup opener keen to remind Bangladesh that what had transpired four years ago was an aberration. Shafiul Islam’s first ball was dispatched to the cover boundary for four, an effort Sehwag repeated off the last ball of the over. Five deliveries later, Rubel Hossain was swatted for a short-arm pull just behind the umpire. Sehwag had made his point.

One almost sensed that Sehwag was calculated in his opening assault. Whenever the Bangladesh pacers bowled short outside the off-stump to him, he abstained from playing the upper cut to third-man, a shot that has seen him perish on many past occasions. Instead he found the boundary cutting the ball all along the ground.

Even when Abdur Razzak, the Bangladesh left-arm spinner, tried to halt the scoring rate, Sehwag was largely determined to play the inside-out shot over cover, a relatively safe shot that bisects both fielders at the cover boundary and long-off. It was only with the six against Razzak over wide long-on, which saw him go past the 50-run mark, that Sehwag came into his own.

Having gotten to his half-century, Sehwag, who has often been faulted for underachieving in the one-day format (before today’s innings he averaged only 34.64 runs in ODIs), did not throw his wicket away. While his first 55 runs included seven fours and a six, the next 45 runs saw him dispatch the ball to the fence on just two occasions. Surrounded by thousands of Bangladesh supporters in Mirpur, Sehwag, the ‘nawab of Najafgarh’, bisected the gaps for ones and twos regally.

It was only after he brought up his 14th one-day century, with India comfortably placed at 211/2, that Sehwag returned to a more familiar guise. Shafiul Islam was hit for a four and a six in the 35th over, while Razzak was bludgeoned for two fours and a six off consecutive balls in the 37th over of the innings. Four overs later a Naeem Islam delivery was sent packing into the stands over midwicket.

Sehwag had earlier spoken of this being a revenge match for the 2007 debacle. By the time he was done today, at an individual score of 175, not only had he improved on his previous best score of 70 runs against Bangladesh but also brought up the highest score by an Indian batsman against Bangladesh. The entire Indian batting lineup had managed only 13 fours and one six in the World Cup encounter of 2007 - Sehwag alone hit 14 fours and five sixes in this game. Riding on his innings, India’s score of 370 is now the highest score in an ODI in Bangladesh paving the way for India’s eventual victory in the match.

Talk about taking things personally.