Cricket

Excessive-flying India favourites for high-scoring contest in Delhi

8 October, 2024

Huge image: India’s attacking template

Regardless of two debutants and loads of recent faces within the aspect, India steamrolled Bangladesh within the first T20I in Gwalior, chasing down 128 inside 12 overs. Sure, India have been at all times the favourites however this additionally confirmed how far Bangladesh are behind the curve in T20I cricket.

The best way India performed confirmed that Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir are persevering with the attacking template set by Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid that helped them clinch the T20 World Cup earlier this yr. Other than Nitish Kumar Reddy (16 not out off 15 balls), everybody batted at a strike fee above 150. Furthermore, they not undergo from the issue of their batters not chipping in with the ball. Their XI within the first T20I had as many as eight bowling choices, one thing Suryakumar known as a “pleased headache”.

However, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto admitted that his batters have no idea easy methods to rating 180 in a T20I, as they’re used to enjoying on 140-150 pitches at dwelling. However that’s one hurdle they should overcome if they’re to maintain the collection alive.

Kind information

India WWWWW (final 5 T20Is, most up-to-date first)
Bangladesh LLLLW

Within the highlight: Hardik Pandya and Najmul Hossain Shanto

After the 2022 T20 World Cup, when Rohit took a sabbatical from the format, Hardik Pandya appeared all set to exchange him as India’s everlasting T20I captain. That did not pan out. Even after Rohit’s T20I retirement, the selectors went with Suryakumar. Hardik, in the meantime, appeared to have settled into the position of an anchor, first at Gujarat Titans after which the Indian staff. However in Gwalior, he confirmed he might nonetheless be as damaging as any batter, smashing 39 not out off simply 16 balls. Earlier than that, he opened the bowling and took 1 for 26 from 4 overs.

If Hardik personified India’s courageous strategy, Shanto’s innings confirmed what Bangladesh have to work on. Coming in at No. 3, Shanto might handle solely 27 runs, and two boundaries, regardless of going through 25 balls. A motive behind his cautious strategy could possibly be that Bangladesh had misplaced two wickets inside the primary three overs, however even then a strike fee of 108 was too low. To vary Bangladesh’s fortunes, the captain should lead by instance.

Workforce information: Miraz to open?

Simply to present as many gamers an opportunity, India might usher in Tilak Varma for Reddy and Harshit Rana for Mayank Yadav.

India (possible): 1 Sanju Samson (wk), 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Rinku Singh, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Varun Chakravarthy

Tamim Iqbal, who’s in India as a commentator and an professional for the host broadcaster, mentioned after the primary T20I that he prompt to Shanto to open with Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Will Bangladesh take heed to their former captain, or persist with what they’ve, or usher in Tanzid Hasan for Parvez Hossain Emon?

Bangladesh (possible): 1 Parvez Hossain Emon/Tanzid Hasan, 2 Litton Das (wk), 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Mahmudullah, 6 Jaker Ali, 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Shoriful Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Pitch and circumstances: A high-scoring venue

Within the 5 matches performed on the Arun Jaitley Stadium in IPL 2024, the 200-mark was breached in eight out of ten innings. Clearly, these groups had an additional batter within the type of Impression Participant, however even with out the luxurious, the expectation is for a high-scoring sport on Wednesday. The climate needs to be clear with little probability of dew.

Stats and trivia: Suryakumar’s double dose

Bangladesh have overwhelmed India solely as soon as in 15 conferences in T20Is. The one staff towards whom Bangladesh have a worse file (minimal three T20Is) is South Africa: 9 matches, 9 losses.
On common, Suryakumar hits 2.01 sixes per innings (139 in 69) in T20I cricket. Amongst those that have hit at the least 50 sixes in T20Is, solely Evin Lewis (2.13; 111 in 52) averages greater than two sixes per innings.
Hardik (87) and Arshdeep Singh (86) are fourth and fifth, respectively, on the listing of most T20I wickets for India.
Litton Das is 53 in need of turning into the third Bangladesh batter to attain 2000 T20I runs. Shanto wants 65 to achieve 1000.

Quotes

“We [Punjab Kings] didn’t play right here this IPL, however after seeing the scores, I didn’t really feel like checking the wicket (laughs). However yeah, we’ll come tomorrow and see what could possibly be an excellent plan right here. And naturally, the captain and the coach will examine the wicket and share their plan.”
India left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh on the pitch in Delhi

“Our bowlers are doing a beautiful job for the previous couple of years. I do not assume we performed that badly within the first sport. We should not doubt ourselves based mostly on one sport. That’d be unfair. We’ve to come back out from that zone and attempt to win the sport. We tried to play aggressively with the bat. We’ve to be extra organised, which is able to serve us higher.”
Bangladesh batter Mahmudullah mounts a defence of his staff’s efficiency

Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo