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In a city that can't get enough of cricket or cricketers, Virender Sehwag set the World Cup alight on its opening day with an innings of such clarity and cricketing acumen that even a spirited showing from Bangladesh could not deny India.

At just after 2.30pm local time, the 25,000-strong crowd at the immaculate Sher E Bangla cricket stadium exhaled as one, when Sehwag took early aim at medium pacer Shafiul Islam and drilled a boundary through extra cover.

But, having begun in now customary fashion, Sehwag soon realised why Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan had put India in to bat when he had the choice. The dark brown clay that is native to the suburb of Mirpur had robbed the pitch of any real bounce, and with Bangladesh's bowlers taking the pace off the ball, strokemaking was anything but easy.

That India overcame the conditions in such an emphatic manner to reach 370-4, a score that would prove 87 runs too many for Bangladesh, despite a counter-punching 70 from Tamim Iqbal, was testament to Sehwag's nous and the purity of Virat Kohli's strokeplay.

After beginning with a boundary, Sehwag was forced to rein himself in, unable to trust the bounce and pace of the ball coming off the pitch.

In Sachin Tendulkar's company, Sehwag decided to take a long, hard look at the pitch, and played himself in rather than attacking continuously.

A master of summing up situations, Tendulkar was poised ominously when an unusually careless piece of running resulted in him being stranded at the non-striker's end along with Sehwag, who had barely left his crease after the ball was played to mid-on.

Sehwag switched gears in Gautam Gambhir's company, chipping over the infield and carving the ball into gaps, focusing hard on picking up ones and twos.

Gambhir shimmied down the pitch repeatedly to the spinners without looking for the big shot, instead placing the ball into vacant spaces and pushing his partner to run hard. That Sehwag reached his century only in the 32nd over, and would eventually end with 79 runs from ones and twos, tells you how much he strayed from his favoured style of play.

When Gambhir played around an innocuous delivery from off-spinner Mahmdullah that kept a touch low, the all-Delhi batting partnership was kept intact as Kohli joined Sehwag.

India's most improved cricketer in recent times, Kohli, who has a mature head on 22-year-old shoulders, brought to the fore the self belief that separates the best cricketers from the rest.

On a day when Sehwag threatened the 200-mark before falling to a tired stroke on 175, it was understandable that Kohli's century was overshadowed. But the first Indian to score a hundred on World Cup debut won't mind that, as his future in Indian cricket appears secure.

What Sehwag and Kohli did in the course of their 203-run third-wicket association, was show the other teams in their group, especially the likes of England and South Africa, whose traditional strengths aren't ideally suited to subcontinental conditions, just what kind of approach was most likely to work in this tournament.

On slow pitches, with the accent on spin, batsmen must be both willing to use their feet and possess the requisite skill of choosing shots wisely if they are to succeed.

With India putting a mammoth score on the board, Bangladesh's batsmen had a task on their hands, and even a couple of years ago would have been dismissed cheaply, playing too many shots. But this team has come a long way, and after a performance like this it's easy to see why there's such passion for the game in the country.

From the time you step out of the airport, you're constantly reminded that the World Cup is in town, and when the opening ceremony got under way, there were at least as many people partying on the streets outside the Bangabandhu Stadium as there were in the stands.

On Saturday, a fan held a banner that read: “Waka, waka, this time for Dhaka,” and the point was well made. If cricket can ever come close to matching the kind of mania that football inspires, it's here in Dhaka. If the 50-over World Cup needed a boost, it couldn't have asked for a better one than it got.

Labels: Bangladesh, Cricket, India, Match, Report, Telegraphcouk, World