Virender Sehwag hit a breezy 114 off 87 deliveries as India easily beat Bermuda in a crucial Group B match at the World Cup in Port of Spain on Monday. Chasing a World Cup record total of 413, Bermuda were all out for 156 in 43.1 overs, handing India a 257-run victory, also a World Cup record. India' margin of victory could have been larger had David Hemp not scored a stubborn 76 not out. The Bermuda bowlers worked out that by bowling very full on off and middle, with a packed off field, they could keep him from breaking free - and the ploy worked, much to the batsman's increasingly visible frustration.


India Batting:






Bermuda skipper Romaine had delayed his last powerplay in the hope of getting some breathing space from the Sehwag blitz. With the innings past the halfway stage, and a late assault almost a certainty, Romaine had no option - the power play was taken in the 26th, and Sehwag greeted it by powering Hurdle high over the midwicket boundary.Yuvraj Singh was very lucky, in the 42nd over, to be ruled not out by the third umpire off a stumping call off Lionel Cann. Yuvraj flashed a big grin - and began batting as if he were on the highlights package on tv.


Bermuda Batting:






The problem with Ajit Agarkar is deception. Not the batsmen, who most times are fine - the really deceptive part of his bowling is his figures.4-0-12-0 - very good, you would say, except that of the 24 deliveries he sent down, the batsmen didn't have to play more than six, eight tops; the rest were well wide of target, and even the Bermuda batsmen had enough sense to let Dhoni do the heavy lifting.The problem with that kind of bowling at the top of the innings is two-fold: one, it dilutes the pressure Zaheer Khan creates at one end; two, the good teams will be more unforgiving, and if you release pressure against them at one end, they will attack at the other too. The other, hidden problem is that Munaf Patel has to then come in, and undo the damage rather than attacking from the get-go.