Scorecard

India crushed Bangladesh by 91 runs in the third and final one-day international at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, on Monday, to win the three-match series 2-1.

Chasing a huge target of 349, Bangladesh were never quite in the hunt and finished at 257 for 9 in their 50 overs.

Rajin Saleh top scored for the hosts with a well-made 82, while Mashrafe Mortaza entertained the crowd in the final few overs with a quickfire knock of 39 from 20 balls.

For India, Sachin Tendukar enjoyed his spell with the ball as he took 4 for 54, while Ajit Agarkar finished with 2 for 32.

Earlier, led by quickfire half-centuries from Virender Sehwag (70 off 52 balls) and Yuvraj Singh (69 off 32 balls), India demolished the Bangladesh attack to post a huge total and virtually bat the hosts out of the match.

Rahul Dravid (60), Sourav Ganguly (55) and Sachin Tendulkar (47) also made vital contributions as India staged a strong comeback after the humiliating loss in the second match.

India innings

It came as no surprise when Indian captain Ganguly elected to bat after winning the toss.

India cut back some of the experiments, recalling their two premier batsmen – Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Sridharam Sriram, who scored a half-century (57) in the previous match was rested, along with Dinesh Mongia and Murali Karthik.

Bangladesh made two changes, bringing in Hazibul Hossain and Mushfiqur Rahman to replace the injured fast bowling duo of Nazmul Hossain and Tapash Baisya.

Baisya was down with a shoulder pain while Nazmul suffered from a groin injury in the second match.

Virender Sehwag opened the innings with Tendulkar and the duo opted for a cautious approach to begin with, scoring just 16 in the first five overs.

The seventh over of the innings produced nine runs, including a wonderfully timed cover drive from Tendulkar and the shackles were broken as boundaries started to flow in thereafter.

Tendulkar slammed three boundaries off Hasibul as India raced to 58 from 10 overs, with 42 coming in the last five.

He, then, repeated the dose on Mushfiqur Rehman, hitting three consecutive boundaries of the last three balls of the over.

Tendulkar's charge inspired Sehwag as the next from Hasibul went for 18 runs, with Sehwag hitting a huge six over long off and then carting three boundaries.

After 12 overs, India had marched on to 89 for no loss, with the last three overs producing 43 overs.

Sehwag reached his half-century, his 16th in ODIs, from just 36 balls (8 x 4, 1 x 6), hitting Rehman for two lofted boundaries over mid-off, and then smashed the next one over wide long-on for his second six.

Khaled Mahmud struck with his first ball, getting an edge of Tendulkar's bat, and wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud standing close held on to complete a good catch. (106-1).

Tendulkar looked good for a big innings, as he blossomed after a slow start, to score 47 from 42 balls, but an intended guide to third man resulted in his downfall.

He had put 106 runs for the opening wicket with Sehwag in just 79 balls at an amazing run rate of 8.05.

Ganguly played out a maiden off Rafique's first over as India reached 107 after 15 overs, their best start of the series.

In the first match, India had scored 53 for 3, while in the second match they had struggled to 47 for 2 after 15 overs.

Sehwag's attacking innings of 70 from 52 balls (9 boundaries, 2 sixes) came to an end, when Mohammad Ashraful at long-on held on to a brilliant catch off Mahmud.(125-2)

Sehwag's huge lift look destined to cross the boundary ropes, but Ashraful took a small jump and with his hands fully stretched up judged the catch to perfection to send back the dangerman.

Ganguly and Dravid were milking the middle overs in a bid to consolidate the blazing start given by the openers. The duo added 50 in 63 balls as India reached 175 for 2 after 30 overs.

Ganguly (42) got a reprieve in the 34th over, when he hit one straight back to Rehman, but the bowler failed to hold on to the catch.

It was Dravid's turn next, as Ashraful failed to cling on to a difficult chance. The Indian vice-captain on 32 tried to reverse sweep part-time spinner Rajin Saleh, but the ball took the top edge, and just about managed to evade Ashraful, who made a valiant effort, jumping backwards but could not hold on.

He survived and soon reached his 1000 runs in ODIs when his score reached 35 with the Indian total on 202 for 2 after 35 overs.

Ganguly reached his half-century (off 69 balls) in style, lofting Rehman over midwicket for a huge six and his 59th half-century in ODIs.

The Indian captain made 55, before he charged down the wicket and lofted the ball straight to Mahmud at the long-off boundary off Saleh. (223-3)

He put on 98 runs in 115 balls for the third wicket with Dravid.

Dravid reached his 56th ODI half-century with a trademark pull shot through midwicket off Saleh. He then followed up the same shot off the next delivery as the bowler dropped short again as India inched closer to the 300-run mark.

He, however, did not last much longer, as Rafique foxed him with a well-flighted delivery in the 42nd over. Dravid after scoring 60 charged down the track and tried to get the ball through the covers, but ended up hitting it straight to Mortaza. (247-4)

The 44th over by Rafique was a huge over as India plundered 16 runs courtesy of Yuvraj Singh, who hit three boundaries.

Rafique's next over went for 17 as Yuvraj once again helped himself to two boundaries and a six to take the total to 299 for 4 after 46 overs.

He half-century took just 22 balls, which included 7 boundaries and a six and the Bangladesh bowlers were made to run for cover.

The last few overs proved to be absolute carnage as Yuvraj single-handedly destroyed the Bangladeshi bowlers.

The left-hander scored a quickfire 69 off just 32 balls, with eight boundaries and 3 sixes, before he holed out to Aftab Ahmed at long-on to give Mashud his third wicket in the final over of the innings. (339-5)

His fifth-wicket partnership with Kaif yielded 93 runs in just 47 balls and took the stuffing out of the Bangladesh attack.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni started off in style hitting a straight six off the first ball he faced as India ended with 348 for 5, with Kaif unbeaten on 29 from 24 balls.

Yuvraj's innings made a huge difference as India scored 118 runs in the last 10 overs. In the first 15 overs, The Indian openers had added 107.

Bangladesh bowlers were brilliant in the second match yesterday and their fielding was top class, but today the wheels came off as none of the bowlers had an economy rate below 6, and there were a couple of dropped catches.

Mahmud was the most successful bowler, taking three wickets for 62 in his 10 overs. The rest were just blown by an Indian batting line-up that seemed intent on revenge.

Bangladesh innings

Bangladesh came out with a new opening pair – Nafis Iqbal and Rajin Saleh, their third combination in as many matches.

The target was big, but the hosts needed to more than anything else put a decent fight, just as they had done in the previous two matches.

The going was pretty slow until Saleh hit two boundaries off Agarkar to make it 22 for no loss after five overs.

Agarkar picked up the first wicket when he had Iqbal (10) slashing outside the offstump to an outswinger as wicketkeeper Dhoni completed the catch. (31 for 1)

Pinch hitter Mohammad Rafique failed once again when he offered Rahul Dravid the easiest of catches at first slip off Zaheer Khan. It was the Indian vice-captain his 150th catch in ODIs. (32 for 2)

Captain Bashar did not last long, scoring just 2, before he was caught by Dhoni off an Agarkar outswinger to become the Mumbai medium-pacer's second victim in the 11th over. (41-3)

Agarkar tempted Bashar with a well pitched up delivery that swung a bit and Bashar flashed at it, without any real footwork and his work for the series was over.

India's first bowling change came in the 13th over, when Joginder Sharma replaced Zaheer with the score at 48 for 3.

In the very next over, Harbhajan Singh took over from Agarkar and nearly picked up a wicket, when Mohammad Ashraful on 5, stepped down the pitch and tried to hit one straight, but the ball evaded the fielder at mid-off.

Ashraful (9) then got lucky again as the ball took the outside edge off Joginder Sharma, but ran through the vacant slip cordon for a boundary.

Ashraful and Saleh's aggressive partnership started to grow, much to the dismay of the Indian bowlers. The duo added 50 for the fourth wicket in 50 balls as Bangladesh recovered to reach 92 for 3 after 20 overs.

However, a misunderstanding between the two batsmen resulted in Ashraful being run out for 32 in the 23rd over.

Ashraful played the ball to third man, and tried to steal a quick second run but his partner did not respond. Both batsmen ended up at the same end and Dhoni had enough time to throw the ball to the bowler's end. (102 for 4)

After 25 overs Bangladesh reached 112 for 4, with Saleh leading the way on an unbeaten 52 as the target of 349 looked well nigh impossible.

Saleh looked to attack Harbhajan whenever the opportunity presented itself, and even hit him for a huge six over long-on off a well flighted delivery. However, a couple of balls later, the off-spinner got his own back when he had Aftab Ahmed caught by Dhoni for 9. (138 for 5)

Tendulkar took just five balls to get among the wickets. Introduced in the 34th over, he tempted Saleh, who stepped outside his crease but failed to get any touch with the ball, and Dhoni calmly whipped off the bails. (163 for 6)

Saleh's 113-ball knock contained eight boundaries and a six. He was particularly severe on Harbhajan as he hammered him for 26 from 27 balls, with three boundaries and a six.

Then in his next over, he trapped Mashud leg before wicket for 10. The Bangladesh wicketkeeper tried to sweep Tendulkar, but he missed the ball completely and was caught right in front of the wickets. (164 for 7)

Tendulkar was not only taking wickets, but also keeping a check on the runs. The first run off Tendulkar's bowling came off the fourth ball of his third over.

Bangladesh were crawling at 167 for 7 after 38 overs, with the last five overs having produced just six runs.

Tendulkar picked up his third wicket, that of Mahmud caught by Sharma at the midwicket boundary for 14 in the 46th over. (197 for 8)

Mortaza entertained the crowd with some lusty blows at the end. The fast bowler played a cameo of 39 from 20 balls, with three boundaries and three huge sixes.

He eventually fell to Tendulkar going for another huge hit, but was deceived by the flight and was stumped by Dhoni. (246 for 9)

It was the fifth dismissal for the Indian wicketkeeper, who has looked very comfortable behind the stumps. He took three catches and accounted for two stumpings.

Bangladesh finished with a respectable score of 257 for 9, losing the match by 91 runs to hand India the series 2-1.

Tendulkar was the most successful bowler, taking 4 for 54 in nine overs, while Agarkar also impressed with 2 for 32 in seven overs.

The hosts had lost the match and the series, but they fought all the way, and the Indians never had it easy in the three-match series. In fact, such was the spirit shown from the Bangladesh lower order that India never managed to bowl them out in this series. It says as much about the Bangladesh batting as it does about the inability of the Indian bowlers to finish off the opposition.

It was a series India would rather to like forget soon. The batting did not fire on all cylinders, while the bowling left a lot to desire. Though Bangladesh lost the series, it seemed that they took more out of it than the visitors, who at times looked as if they lacked the motivation and desire.

Kaif emerged as the highest run getter in the series with 158 from 3 matches at 79.00 and was adjudged the man-of-the-series for his efforts. Agarkar and Mahmud took the bowling honours, claiming six wickets each.