In front of a goodly Sunday crowd at the Netaji Indoor stadium on Sunday, the Indian spikers hardly broke sweat while coming through their Group A clash in straight sets 25-7, 25-18, 25-13.
A little later, South Africa, backed by the 2000-odd spectators, stunned reigning champions Canada in a five-set thriller in Group B. There were no problems for favourites Australia, who made short work of Sri Lanka.
The Indians won their match in a little under an hour, though it will be naive to read too much into this victory. Lowly Bangladesh were not expected to run the Indians close, in any case. Besides, they have come here with an inexperienced team.
After beginning in splendid style, India's old frailties came to the fore in the second set, and it had nothing to do with opening-match blues. The hosts relaxed their grip on the proceedings to give Bangladesh a look-in. That the neighbours didn't cash in is a different matter altogether.
The Indian defence, hardly tested in the opening set, suddenly looked susceptible. Bangla captain All Mamun Sheikh, the only one to make some sort of an impression, made the most of the brittle Indian defence with a couple of fine smashes.
Even the first pass went a little awry for the hosts. To make matters worse, the Indians were also guilty of committing far too many unforced errors. The Central Asian Zone champions let Bangladesh draw level at 9-9 and looked a little ragged for the first time in the match.
But attacker Sanjay Kumar, back in the team after missing the Islamabad bash last month, gate-crashed into the party. The 22-year-old attacker got India out of the hole they had dug themselves into. He came up with a couple of blistering winners, even from the back of the court, to get India up and running again. The rest just followed suit. Soon, the Indians were firing on all cylinders.
The hosts wrapped up the set 25-18 and coach GE Sridharan had the chance to test his bench strength in the third set, which the Indians won 25-13. Besides Sanjay, who won a match-high 13 points, the other feature of India's victory was the performance of the centre-blockers. Both Sube Singh and Pradeep were just too good on the day, winning seven points in blocks alone in the first set.
Having hit a wall straightaway in the opening set, the Bangladesh spikers looked totally clueless. With a bit of brilliance on Sheikh's part, and of course, India's largesse, the visitors were able to match their rivals for a brief while in the second set. But once Sanjay got into the act, it was curtains for them.
South Africa win
It looked curtains for South Africa too, at least after the way champions Canada began in Group B. With the top players doing duty at the Pan-Am Games, it seemed Canada hardly missed them in the opening set, which they took in double quick time.
Most expected the match too to get over as fast. But the Proteas, ranked 25 places below their rivals at 37 in the world, altered the script with a splendid show, beating back Canada's challenge in five sets.
Results: Group A: India bt Bangladesh 25-7, 25-18, 25-13; Australia bt Sri Lanka 25-14, 25-14, 25-18. Group B: South Africa bt Canada 17-25, 25-23, 25-23, 16-25, 15-13.