Looking at the scorecard, India's win might appear reasonably comfortable. But for at least half the duration of India's chase it was Bangladesh that held a modest advantage.
India started breezily reaching 33/0 after 4 overs. At that point its pressure index (PI) was 66. But as wickets fell regularly, India looked to be in considerable trouble; at 144/5 after 28 overs, the PI was 126. The next four overs fetched only 6 runs, and at 150/5 in 32 overs, India's PI was 131.
The situation eased considerably only after the 40th over with India at 207/5 and a PI of 97. Even at this stage the situation could have turned perilous if Dhoni or Karthik had fallen.
Luckily India's wicket-keeping duo held their nerve; something that one can't say about Yuvraj, Gambhir or even Sehwag.
If the pressure curve is stretched out, the length of the stretched curve is a good indicator of how close the match was. With a score of 602, this was a "close" match.
Srinivas Bhogle, Sunil Patil and T M Sunil Kumar work for Cranes Software International Limited, Bangalore.
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