India beat Bangladesh with a rather close five-run victory today. A key to their success was KL Rahul’s on-field brilliance and the rain gods’ intervention in Wednesday’s rain-curtailed match.
Having posted an imposing total of 184 for 6 thanks to Virat Kohli (64 not out off 44) and KL Rahul (50 off 32), India didn’t account for what was about to happen as Litton Das cut down the floodgates with 60 off 27 in a matter of minutes.
Bangladesh continued their abysmal form in their final Super-12 match. With 145/6 runs in 16 overs, they still fell short and finished the game with a batting score of 151.
Young Arshdeep Singh showed ice-cool temperament when faced with Nurul Hasan’s four sixes. The bowler managed to strike back with the perfect length, to seal the tie with 20 last over.
Bangladesh were going really well, with no loss in 7 overs, when all of a sudden heavy rain started. That was great news for the Bangladeshi fans and their partisan media.
After the break, Bangladesh was on the verge of losing. They needed to make 85 runs off just 54 balls. Rahul Gandhi caused a run-out that will now be part of any highlights package with his direct throw from the deep mid-wicket region carrying Bangladesh to victory.
Something similar happened to the Indian coaching staff in the Asia Cup. Litton cleverly waited for and let loose the rain, and once that happened, India’s batting collapsed.
The first over by Bhuvneshwar Kumar produced no boundaries and no runs – the next over by Arshdeep saw the right-hander frequently step down the wicket, trying to negate any swing on offer.
In just 21 balls, he made one of the finest T20I fifty’s for Bangladesh. He was a little inconsistent against good length deliveries, watching them on down the wicket and picking ones that were over-pitched to loft them over the infield.
Litton played some incredible shots, guiding the flow of deliveries and making Rohit Sharma look outmatched during the first 10 overs. The 60 runs scored in this time was testament to our dominance.
When it began to rain, Bangladesh were 66 for no loss in 7 overs and had a 17-run lead on DLS par score.
When Rahul’s target was reduced, his inspiring fielding from the deep found Litton short of his ground at the non-striker’s end.
Shanto (21 off 25 balls) struggled with timing for the majority of his innings before a mistimed pull off Shami’s bowling found Suryakumar Yadav at wide long-on.
Despite a couple of quick wickets, the wet outfield due to rain made it difficult for batsmen to grip the ball as Shakib Al Hasan launched into Ravichandran Ashwin for two boundaries.
Afif Hossain, who came in after the rain, was caught off Saraya by Sharma for 2. The dangerous batsman Shakib was also caught by Deepak Hooda as he came in for replacement.
Hardik removed Yasir and Saikat from the game on 2/28, sealing the win for Bangladesh.
Earlier, Kohli’s love affair with the Adelaide Oval continued as he powered India to a strong total.
There were eight fours and a six in this Bangladeshi player’s 44-ball innings. None of the bowlers had an answer for his strokeplay, which was incredibly exquisite.
The pitch in Dhaka is slower compared to Perth, and the Bangladesh bowling attack lost their energy after the Powerplay overs. Rahul also regained his form, scoring his first 50 at this tournament since the Powerplay.
Kohli was on his way to earn his third 50 in the competition, and he had a couple of useful partnerships. One with Rahul when they added 67 runs for the second wicket, and 30 with Suryakumar Yadav for the third wicket (15 balls).
Shakib (2/33 in 4 overs) picked up a couple of wickets with his deliveries, both of which were Rahul and Surya. Taskin, who was the best bowler on view today, picked up three wickets.
Rahul has received a lot of criticism over the past few games, but he showed that he’s able to handle it when he got into his element today. He played his customary ‘pick-up pull-shot’, which is a whip off the wrists for a six behind square.
Once Rohit was dismissed cheaply, Kohli made things a lot easier by running a quick between the wickets action.
When the powerplay was taken away, Rahul’s game changed drastically. In one over, he hit a short-arm pull over deep mid-wicket and followed it up with a slash over backward point for two maximums.
Shoriful’s ninth over resulted in 24 runs and the pressure was off of the Indian batsmen.
Rahul had 29 runs off 10 balls, but he lost his wicket when he tried a lap-shot rounding off the 31-ball-50. Mustafizur took the catch off Shakib’s bowling.
The situation was perfect for Suryakumar, who quickly responded with a perfectly timed cameo before Shakib’s arm-ball breached his defense.
Kohli attacking from one end helped India better an already high score.
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