Tendulkar gets 100th century, but India lose

Scorecard:

Sachin Tendulkar created history on Friday by becoming the first batsman to score 100 international centuries, but Bangladesh spoilt his party by scoring an upset five-wicket victory over India to open wide the Asia Cup tournament in Mirpur, Dhaka, on Friday.

Embellished with Tendulkar's milestone knock of 114 runs, his 49th ODI century, India scored 289 for five, but the hosts pulled off a stunning win, with four balls to spare, to send thousands of their fans into a frenzy at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium.

The heroes of Bangladesh's win were opener Tamim Iqbal (70), Jahurul Islam (53) and Shakib Al Hasan (49), who all batted with sheer grit to pull the rug from under India's feet.

Bangaldesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim hit a fiery 46 not out from 25 balls and Nasir Hossain supported him well with a 54-run knock as the hosts registered their first victory over India since the 2003 World Cup.

They needed 37 off the last four overs, and the match tilted their way when Irfan Pathan leaked 17 runs in the 48th over. Skipper Rahim hit two consecutive sixes in that over and then treated Praveen Kumar with the same disdain to script a historic win.

For India, apart from Tendulkar's knock, Virat Kohli (66) and Suresh Raina (51) were the notable contributors.

India will now have to win their last league match against arch-rivals Pakistan to entertain hopes of making it to the final.

It had been a long and agonising wait for Tendulkar to get to this century, as pressure was piling on him to achieve the landmark ever since the disappointing England tour last year.

Exactly a year and four days since he scored his 99th hundred against South Africa during a World Cup match in Nagpur, Tendulkar neatly tapped a delivery from left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan behind square leg, in the 44th over of the Indian innings, to get his landmark century.

It took him 138 deliveries to reach the three-figure mark, probably one of his slowest ODI tons, but the relief was palpably more than the excitement and happiness of having achieved what was unthinkable even a decade ago.

After completing his century, he opened up, hitting pacer Sahadat Hossain for back-to-back boundaries as his partner, Suresh Raina, sent the opposition bowlers on a leatherhunt in favourable conditions, smashing a quickfire 51 off 38 balls, with the help of five fours and two sixes.

Tendulkar was finally out in the 47th over when he tried to hit Mashrafe Mortaza out of the ground, only to edge it to Mushfiqur Rahim behind the stumps.

It certainly wasn't the best of knocks, which came with the help of 12 boundaries and a six.

The pressure of reaching the 100th hundred was evident as he took 36 deliveries after getting to 80 for his 100. There were times when he would try and go for quick singles only to be denied by the alert Bangaldeshi fielders who otherwise were pathetic in the outfield.

Bangladesh made a shaky start to the chase, losing opener Nazimuddin (5) inside the fifth over, with Praven Kumar getting the breakthrough for the Indians.

However, Tamim Iqbal (70) and Jahurul Islam (53) raised a fighting 113-run partnership for the second wicket.

When all options failed to break the partnership, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni turned to Ravindra Jadeja and the spinning all-rounder reponded with the wicket of Jahurul.

The asking rate mounted, and, in order to accelerate, Tamim too fell. He became the second victim of Praveen, who had the Bangladeshi caught by Rohit Sharma.

Shakib Al Hasan and Nasir Hossain, though, refused to give up and rattled up a fiery 68-run stand for the fourth wicket to raise hopes of an upset win.

Shakib played a stellar knock, studded with five fours and two sixes, but R Ashiwn scalped the former Bangladesh skipper by having him stumped.

Earlier, after being sent in to bat, India lost Gautam Gambhir early as he played on to a Shafiul Islam delivery that was angled across.

Tendulkar and Virat Kohli (66) added 148 runs for the second wicket. During the earlier part of the innings, Tendulkar looked in fine touch, hitting some crisp shots on both sides of the wicket.

He lifted Shakib wide of long-on for his only six. He completed his 50 off 63 balls when he hit the former Bangladesh captain inside out over extra cover for a boundary.

Kohli, who has been in tremendous form since the tour of Australia, also looked good for another three-figure mark as they scored runs with consumate ease.

He was eyeing a hat-trick of ODI tons, having scored back-to-back 100s in Hobart, but was left disappointed as he dragged a wide delivery from left-arm spinner Abdur Razzaq on to his stumps.

With the ball hardly doing anything and the bounce, which was below the knee-roll, the situation was ideal for Raina to show his pyrotechnics. He played an innings so typical of him -- taking his front foot away to make room and the murder the length balls.

The Tendulkar-Raina partnership for the third wicket yielded 86 runs in a 10.5 overs which helped India reach a commendable total.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (21 not out, 11 balls, 2x4) blasted a couple boundaries to take India past 280.