A heavy drizzle that threatened a premature end to the match, a dogged opposition and their own reckless approach -- India had to overcome this dangerous blend of factors before embracing victory.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who had to use Yuvraj Singh as runner due to cramps for most part of his innings, and a calm-headed Dinesh Kaarthick guided India to a laborious five-wicket win over Bangladesh that might have elicited a huge sigh of relief from the Indian dressing room.
After seeing Bangladesh post 250 for seven in a match reduced to a 47-over affair, India eventually scrambled past the post, reaching 251 for five with six deliveries to spare.
Dhoni and Kaarthick had to compensate for the profligacy shown by the other frontline batsmen and they stuck to their task admirably while realising a precious 107 runs for the sixth wicket.
Dhoni's innings on Thursday was workmanlike compared to some of his earlier cameos, but the Jharkhand batsman read the situation perfectly and played an innings worthy of a million dollar cheque.
His 13th one-day fifty (91 not out) assumed a hue of bravery as well; the wicketkeeper-batsman did not retreat to the pavilion even when he was struggling to move his right leg and stayed till the end.

Mature knock
Kaarthick too was not far behind. The Tamil Nadu batsman has matured beyond his age in recent days and this knock was confirmation of that fact. He had tied nuptial knot just before the Bangladesh tour and that too might have played a part in making him a more responsible person!
The duo will certainly remember this effort for a long time as it came when the country needed it so desperately.
However, the painstaking journey that India undertook to victory belied the initial stages of their innings when they appeared keen to end the match in a jiffy. Virender Sehwag and his Delhi-mate Gautam Gambhir tore the Bangladesh new ball attack apart with some dazzling strokes.
After Gambhir was trapped in front by Syed Rasel, Sehwag showed glimpses of his destructive ability when he carved the same bowler for four boundaries in an over. But the left-arm paceman had the last laugh when the Delhi dasher needlessly drove the ball uppishly to Saqibul Hasan at covers and the fielder latched onto a fine diving catch.
Skipper Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj and Dinesh Mongia failed to contribute anything substantial and their dismissals reduced India to 144 for five in the 29th over. But fortunately, the visitors had two sensible players in their ranks to take them home and to a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Competitive total
Bangladesh's competitive total after Habibul Bashar won the toss was built around measured half-centuries from opener Javed Omar (80, 116b) and young all-rounder Saqibul (50, 67b). The duo milked 107 runs from 21.3 overs for the third wicket after rain delayed the start of the proceedings for 45 minutes.
The partnership was based on the simple concept of waiting for the loose delivery for playing aggressive shots.
Of course, freebies were on offer aplenty. India’s bowlers were guilty of not maintaining the required line to restrict Bangladesh batsmen in the middle overs. Their performance was no more than ordinary and the cramps suffered by paceman S Sreesanth too did not help their cause as it curbed Dravid's options.
Sreesanth was the best bowler on view as he bowled with considerable pace and a lot of purpose. His unavailability forced Dravid to give extra overs to Sehwag; it proved costly as the part-time off-spinner failed to check the flow of runs.
However, the early damage was done by opener Tamim Iqbal. The little left-hander is a bundle of energy at the crease and he stuck into Zaheer Khan in an impeccable style, hammering the left-arm pacer for four boundaries.
The unadulterated aggression left Zaheer short of ideas and he had to concede defeat in that personal confrontation with the batsman. I
qbal's knock, though not as brutal as the one he had played in the World Cup, shattered the morale of Indian bowlers and, alarmingly, they never recovered.

Poor bowling
The Bangladesh batsmen exploited the slapdash attitude of the Indian bowlers to post a total that was a difficult one to chase, but India showed enough resilience to scale down the target in the end.

SCORE BOARD
BANGLADESH
Omar (run out) 80
(116b, 7x4, 2x6)
Iqbal c Sehwag b Mongia 45
(53b, 6x4)
Bashar c Gambhir b Powar 0
(2b)
Saqibul st Dhoni b Mongia 50
(67b, 2x4)
Ashraful b Mongia 29
(22b, 3x4)
Aftab lbw Sehwag 16
(16b, 1x4)
Rafique c Kaarthick b Powar 11
(7b, 1x6)
Rahim (not out) 1
(1b)
Extras (LB-1, W-13, NB-4) 18
Total (for 7 wkts, 47 overs) 250
Fall of wickets: 1-78 (Iqbal), 2-78 (Bashar), 3-185 (Omar), 4-200 (Saqibul), 5-236 (Ashraful), 6-240 (Aftab), 7-250 (Rafique).
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 7-1-54-0 (w-2, nb-4), S Sreesanth 5-1-14-0 (w-1), Munaf Patel 7-1-31-0 (w-2), Powar 10-0-55-2, Mongia 10-0-49-3, Sehwag 8-0-46-1 (w-2).
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 30/0, 10: 47/0, 15: 68/0, 20: 88/2, 25: 108/2, 30: 135/2, 35: 163/2, 40: 194/3, 45: 236/5; end of innings: 250/7 in 47 overs.
Runs during: Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 47/0, Power Play 2: 18-22 overs: 15/1, Power Play 3: 23-26 overs: 22/0.

INDIA
Gambhir lbw Rasel 21
(17b, 4x4)
Sehwag c Saqibul b Rasel 30
(21b, 7x4)
Dhoni (not out) 91
(106b, 7x4)
Yuvraj c Razzak b Hossain 1
(9b)
Dravid c Razzak b Saqibul 22
(38b, 2x4)
Mongia c Ashraful b Saqibul 17
(25b, 1x4)
Kaarthick (not out) 58
(60b, 4x4)
Extras (LB-4, W-6, NB-1) 11
Total (for 5 wkts, 46 overs) 251
Fall of wickets: 1-35 (Gambhir), 2-56 (Sehwag), 3-63 (Yuvraj), 4-112 (Dravid), 5-144 (Mongia).
Bowling: Rasel 9-0-66-2, Hossain 7-0-43-1 (w-2, nb-1), Razzak 9-1-35-0 (w-3), Rafique 10-0-47-0 (w-1), Saqibul 9-0-43-2, Aftab 2-0-13-0.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 35/1, 10: 67/3, 15: 81/3, 20: 109/3, 25: 126/4, 30: 146/4, 35: 174/5, 40: 207/5, 45: 239/5; end of innings: 251/5 in 46 overs.
Runs during: Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 67/3, Power Play 2: 11-15 overs: 14/0, Power Play 3: 16-19 overs: 23/0.