After getting a hammering
in the last match against England, the Men in Blue looked determined to win
when they came out to face the utterly unpredictable Bangladeshi Tigers.
Now if there is any
country other than ….yes you guessed it right – Pakistan who on its day can
topple the world’s best, it’s Bangladesh. So the match already had its own
share of Excitement even before the first ball is bowled.
India were looking for that
sole point needed to enter the semis where as Bangladesh was looking to stay alive
in the tournament.
Virat won the all
important Toss & as expected chose to Bat first & rightly so. India
made 2 changes in the playing eleven – Kedar Jadhav was dropped (I mean
seriously? The poor fellow was made the scapegoat after the Dhoni heroics in
the last game against England) & Dinesh Kartik was picked and
Kuldeep Yadav was replaced by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (A
right choice).
The match was scheduled
on the same ground & the same pitch on which India lost to England couple
of days back.
Rohit & Rahul started
the Indian innings & Rohit seemed to have moved over from the last match’s embarrassing
defeat against England when he pulled one from the Bangladeshi Captain Mashrafe
Murtaza for a six in the very first over. This Bangladeshi move was beyond
understanding as to why the skipper opened the bowling attack himself when he
had bowlers like Mustafizur & Shakib in his line-up. He gave away 10 runs in
the very first over. No wonder he quickly removed himself of the attack after
the first over.
Rahul with a mediocre WC
so far (just the one fifty) & Mayank Agarwal
breathing down his neck (he has been called in as a replacement for Vijay
Shankar) looked quite a bit hassled right from the word go.
It seems that God is especially
kind on the Hit Man as he again got lucky today (an
astonishing 5th time!!) when on 10, he was dropped by Tamim of Mustafizur
in the 5th over of the Indian Innings. Tamim dropped a sitter which
was going to cost them ...HUGE.
India 21 for no loss
after 5 overs.
Bangladesh Captain
Mashrafe Murtaza brought himself back in the 10th over, again went
for 9 runs.
India 69 for no loss
after 10 overs.
In the 15th
over, Rohit reached his Fifty of 45 balls.
The Bangladeshi Bowlers were
no match to what England bowlers were to Indian Batsman in the last match. It
was a cake walk for Indian Batsmen & they didn’t disappoint either.
India 162 for no loss in
25th over.
Rohit achieved
another milestone when he reached his 4th Century of the Current WC of
just 90 balls (4*7, 6*5).
With this
hundred Rohit became the top scorer in 2019 WC.
He also became
only the 2nd Indian Batsman to score 500+ runs in one WC.
Rohit also
became only the 2nd Batsman to score 4 Centuries in one WC.
Rohit lost his composure
& got out immediately after that on 104 caught by Litton of Somya Sarkar.
Together He
& Rahul compiled a massive total of 180 runs –the biggest opening wicket
partnership of this WC.
India 180 for 1 in 30th
over.
Rahul too didn’t last
long & was caught behind thereafter on well made 77 of 92 balls of Rubel,leaving
two new batsmen on the crease in Virat & Pant who was rightly been sent up
as the stage was set for his firecrackers .
He didn’t disappoint &
hit a straight six over bowler Mosaddek’s head immediately.
Mustafizur then got Kohli
caught by Rubel cheaply on 26(27 balls).The batsman was clearly pissed off from
himself as he missed an opportunity of a big score here.
Hardik Pandaya came &
didn’t bothered the scorers & was out for a duck, giving Mustafizur his maiden
2nd wicket of the 39th over.
This brought Dhoni in to
the crease, who again started nudging & pushing around. Meanwhile Pant didn’t
disappoint & hit 3 fours back to back of saifuddin to up the ante. He
butchered the bowler with his ferocious Cover drive, Pull & Square cutting
antics.
India 251 for 4 now in 40
over. Stage was set for a big total (around 340)
on the board for India.
Just when Pant was taking
the team to a Massive score he was caught in the deep of Shakib on brilliantly
made 48 of 41 balls missing his first WC fifty by a whisker.
India 277 for 5 in 45
overs.
Dinesh Kartik, his first
outing of the WC was forgetful as he came &went for 8(8) trying to acclerate.He
became Mustafizur’s 3rd wicket of the match.
Now all eyes were on Dhoni
who again was just not able to accelerate when needed & perished on 35
(33balls).
Mustafizur took a five-for with the wickets of Dhoni & Shami.
He
(5/59) & Shakib (1/41) were the only bowlers who made some impact on the
Indian Batsmen.
India
eventually only managed to reach 314 for 9 in their 50 overs.
About 25 runs short in my
view.
Bangladesh Openers –Tamim
Iqbal & Somya Sarkar began the run chase & were cruising along nicely
when in the 10th over Tamim 22 (31) played one ball on to his stumps
giving Shami his first wicket of the match & India - the breakthrough they
were looking for.
Bangladesh 39 for 1 in 10th
over.
This brought the ace batsman Shakib Al Hassan
to the crease.
Dangerous Somya Sarkar 33
(38) was caught in covers by virat of Pandaya in the 16th over.
Mushfikur Rahim came
& was cleaned by Chahal on 24 (23).
A small partnership of 50
+ was building up between Shakib & Rahim here but was broken.
Bangladesh 121 for 3 in
23 overs.
Pandaya took his 2nd
wicket of the match when he removed Litton Das for 22 (24)
On the other end Shakib completed
a well deserved fifty .But didn’t stay for long & was out caught by Kartik of
Pandaya, giving him his 3rd wicket.Shakib made 66 of 74 balls. This was the turning point of the match according to me.
Pandaya
seemed to compensate his batting failure with vital 3 wickets at the right time.
After this there was a partnership
of 66 runs between Rahman (36) &Saifuddin (51) in the lower order threatening
to disrupt India’s plans but was timely snubbed by Bumrah who returned with impressive
figure of 4 for 55 in his quota of 10 overs.
Bumrah took two
wickets (Rubel & Mushtafizur) on the last two balls & is on a hat-trick
in the next match against SriLanka.
Bangladesh
eventually managed to make only 286 runs & were all out in the 48th
over, with this loss their hope for semis are destroyed. They fought hard & never let the run rate
slip away all throughout the innings. India could manage to win as they were
able to take wickets in regular interval.
India thus won
the match with 28 runs & entered the much awaited WC semis.
MY ANALYSIS-
1.
India’s winning the toss & batting first is the best
bet for them in this WC. The openers can take time & plan their innings
with an eye on the projected score by the team management. Both Rohit &
Rahul feel pressure when chasing as is seen against quality attack (as seen in the
match against England) & that rubs over to the batsmen coming after them (even
if we consider virat as the best run chaser today, his own inability to convert
50s into 100 in this WC is visible to all) resulting in the required run rate
escalating every dot ball & eventually the match is lost.
2.
Bringing in Bhuvneshwar Kumar in place of Kuldeep Yadav is understandable
as Bhuvi is better off than Kuldeep in terms of both experience & wicket
taking ability on any sort of pitch.
3.
Replacing Kedar
Jadhav with Dinesh Kartik (not taking anything away from his abilities) is un- explainable.
Without getting into the numbers, both of them has the same style of batting
& both can rotate the strike or hit big as per the situation of the
match.Infact Jadhav has an added advantage that he can bowl too. More over
Jadhav hasn’t got much of an opportunity till now that can lead his exit from
the playing eleven.
4.
If anyone needs to be replaced as of now from the team is Dhoni.His
keeping abilities & understandings are nothing extraordinary in this WC which
can be assessed by the way the DRS was lost against England. He was not able to
guide the spinner duo of Chahal & Kuldeep when they were conceding record
breaking runs (against England) as in the past. About his batting ,much is
already been said & proved once again in this match against Bangladesh as
well when the last 10 overs fetched just 63 runs when a seasoned player like
him was on the crease.
5.
In my opinion Ravinder Jadeja should be brought in, in
place of Dhoni.He is an explosive batsman –just the right choice in the fag end
of the innings when the team needs quick runs, he is a live wire in the field &
he can bowl also if Pandaya or Chahal are having an off day.
6.
Keeping job can be done by either Pant or DK.
7.
Stay with Rahul for
the meantime, he is not doing that bad as seen in this match as well. Give him
confidence & I’m sure he will come into his own in the vital matches ahead.
8.
Rohit just need to carry on what he is doing. He will be
the main pillar for team India in the Semis.
9.
Virat just need to take strong decisions in team selection keeping
aside his personal favourites which will be crucial make or break aspect in the
semis. A player like Ravinder Jadeja is an asset for any team, he sitting
outside is astonishing.
10. Just like Jadeja, Pant too is a big asset and his entry
into the playing eleven cannot have come in a better time. With one more league
match still there, Pant can get ready for mayhem in the semis.
11. Hardik Pandaya is vital for India both with Bat & Ball.
He showed today that even if he fails with the bat he can compensate with the ball.
His 3 big wickets brought India back into the game.
12. Our 3 Pace bowlers-Bhuvi, Bumrah & Shami are a treat to
watch together. Today as well they complimented each other well although the
day belonged to Bumrah who sealed the fate for team India with 4 wickets.
With one more league
game left against Srilanka before the semis ,India can fine tune their
shortcomings & plug the holes .India has a very bright chance to again hold
the trophy in the finals.
Till we meet again
after the match against Srilanka…..
HAPPY READING!!
I agree with your views about Jadhav and Dhoni. Jadeja hopefully will get a game against Sri Lanka. He is due for a trial.
ReplyDeleteVery detailed and clear analysis
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