THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES
Special Correspondent
Indian openers, the skipper Rohit Sharma and struggle to get into form K L Rahul continues to fail to give India needed flying start in the ongoing T20 World league encounters. If the team could escape in similar manner in their opener against its arch rivals Pakistan, its disgusting performance against South Africa in the Group league pushed to second position winning their first two matches, including against Netherlands. And, Men in Blue once again gave anxious moments in the fourth match against the Bangladesh. However, ‘no-hit-man’ men could register a five run win over Bangladesh in their crucial encounter and keep their semi-final hopes alive. India will play its last match against Zimbabwe on November 6.
Batting first, India set a target of 185 which was revised to 151 in 16 overs under the DLS method. Wicket-keeper Nurul Hasan and Bowler Taskin Ahmed dragged back Bangladesh to a thrilling last-ball finish taking Bangladesh to 145 for 6, falling 5 runs short of the revised target. The win took India to the top of the table in Group 2 and a step closer to the semifinals after India and Bangladesh both began Wednesday’s crunch match level on points (4 points in 3 games), while Bangladesh’s hopes for a semi-final birth crashed as they threw away the game from a winning position. crumble under pressure after flying start/ Prior to the rain, Bangladesh got off to a great start scoring 66/0 when the covers came on after the 7th over. Opening batter Litton Das played a dazzling knock of 60 from 27 balls as he battered the Indin bowlers all around the Adelaide Oval. However, the game changed completely when Das was run out in the first over since the game’s restart.
Things went from bad to worse for Bangladesh after the restart as they kept losing wickets in succession. Indian pacer Arshdeep Singh removed Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan and middle order batter Afif Hossain in the same over to drag Bangladesh into deep trouble. Hardik Pandya piled on the pressure by picking up the wickets of Yasir Ali and Mosaddek Hossain.
Virat Kohli, led India’s charge with the bat as he brought up his third fifty of the tournament with well-paced innings, staying unbeaten at 64 from 44 deliveries. Kohli, who has been in top form, notched up yet another milestone by surpassing former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardena to become the leading run-scorer in the ICC Men’s T20 World cup.
The men in blue got off to a shaky start after skipper Rohit Sharma was dismissed cheaply (2 off 8 balls) in the 4th over by Hasan Mahmud. But, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli led the onslaught through the first ten overs to put India in a respectable position. Rahul, who has been struggling for runs made a quick-fire half-century (50 off 32 balls) but was dismissed moments later by Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan.
Suryakumar Yadav – who recently became the top-ranked men’s T20I batter – scored a blistering 30 off 16 balls before falling victim to Shakib, who picked up his 2nd wicket for the day.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya fell cheaply for 5 off 6 balls as Hasan Mahmud picked up his second wicket, while Dinesh Karthik was run out (7 off 5 balls) following a miscommunication with Kohli. Axar Patel soon joined the duo after Hasan Mahmud dismissed the all-rounder for 7 off 6 balls, picking up his third scalp. Spinner Ravi Ashwin played a quick cameo at the end with a quick 13 off 6 deliveries to finish off India’s innings.Both teams made one change each. Spin-bowling all-rounder Axar Patel replaced Deepak Hooda in the Indian playing XI while Soumya Sarkar made way for Shoriful Islam for Bangladesh.
Teams
India: Rohit Sharma (Capt), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh.
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (Capt), Najmul Hossain Shanto, Litton Das, Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali, Mosaddek Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Nurul Hasan (wk), Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud and Taskin Ahmed.
