India 196 for five (Hardik 50*, Tanzim 2-32) beat Bangladesh 146 for 8 (Shanto 40, Kuldeep 3-19, Bumrah 2-13) by 50 runs
The opening conundrum
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as a partnership has received many a match for India, however at this T20 World Cup, they’re but to click on. There was even a second’s confusion after they had been working between the wickets, Rohit not sure of whether or not there was a single on to midwicket’s proper. It was stop-start however they finally acquired the run. The group will hope the identical factor occurs to them because the match goes on as a result of pairing them collectively on the high of the order is permitting India to pack their center order with six-hitters. That benefit helps them put up par-plus totals in powerful circumstances.
Bangladesh’s brilliant spot
Tanzim Hasan did as a lot as he may to mess with that plan. He was Bangladesh’s finest bowler and he earned that mantle by doing the one factor a big-hitter hates. He was unpredictable. Kohli got here charging to satisfy him however he did the batter with change of tempo and let him have it with a send-off. Suryakumar Yadav managed to get a six away first ball however was overwhelmed by further bounce the subsequent supply. Tanzim’s slower balls gripped and misbehaved off the pitch. And when he went on-pace, he made certain to hit the pitch laborious to extract variation in bounce.
India’s counterattack
Rishabh Pant was the firestarter. After India went from 71 for 1 to 77 for 3, they suffered 9 balls with no boundary. Typically, in good batting circumstances, that is the worth you pay. These weren’t good batting circumstances. The pitch and the outfield had been gradual. They could not wait until the loss of life overs to make up the distinction. Totally conscious of that, Pant, who was 12 off 15, burst to life. A left-hander’s cowl drive is often a factor of magnificence however the one which Mustafizur needed to endure was one thing else. It was energy stripped to its purest essence. It was chilling. Pant hit 5 boundaries in eight balls and fell in search of one other one.
The spotlight
Rishad Hossain will now not be denied. Having needed to wait as a result of the tradition in Bangladesh doesn’t charge wristspinners, (whilst the remainder of the world made it plain they had been game-changers) he has arrived at this T20 World Cup as their most enjoyable cricketer. His dismissal of Pant secured Bangladesh their finest interval of play on this sport – 2.4 overs of singles and dots between the twelfth and the fifteenth. He took two wickets as properly, each of batters trying to assault him. Pant caught off the reverse sweep and Dube bowled neck and crop. He might have given a couple of runs away however he by no means took a backward step. Not even when he needed to bowl one of many loss of life overs.
The half-centurion
Hardik broke India freed from their second lull. They had been 120 for 4 at the beginning of the fifteenth over. He was 6 off 7. Then he acquired a present from Mahedi Hasan – an extended hop with room to free the arms – and that was that. A variety of his energy sport comes from having unimaginable energy in his core and in his forearms. That is why he is capable of hit even yorkers for boundaries. That is why he would not at all times want a full swing of the bat. That is why he needs to be somewhat extra adventurous than he lets himself be now. Though he got here in solely within the twelfth over, and had confronted solely 18 deliveries by the 18th, his capacity to entry the boundary – every of the 4 that got here within the final two overs had been off his bat – helped him rating a fifty.
This was the type of innings India may by no means think about. Even the stats bore that out. Solely as soon as earlier than, of their whole historical past of T20Is, had they made greater than the 196 they did on Saturday with none of their high 5 batters scoring a fifty. They’re often freight trains, gradual to start out, however steadily choosing up steam. At this World Cup, they’re discovering a brand new id. 4 of the seven batters who went on the market scored at a strike charge of 150 or extra. Twenty-eight balls was the longest anybody spent within the center as a result of everybody was trying to take dangers.
The chase
Bangladesh’s opening partnership had offered solely 13 runs in 5 earlier innings. Given how essential it’s to start out a giant chase properly, they had been already at a handicap. Tanzid Hasan, coming off back-to-back geese, completed lower than a-run-a-ball. Litton Das did not survive the powerplay, though he was completed in by a stunning slower ball from Hardik, who additionally made certain to pull the offbreak huge of the right-hand batter’s hitting arc, securing a mis-hit that was caught at deep midwicket.
A batting group at 67 for two after 10 overs ought to have put up extra of a combat however Bangladesh bumped into Kuldeep Yadav and by no means recovered. The googly caught Tanzid unawares for 29 off 31. The legbreak had Towhid Hridoy lbw on the slog sweep. And at last, he was additionally as much as job when Shakib Al Hasan was trying to hit him out of the bottom. A easy shift of line barely wider exterior the off stump messed with the left-hand batter’s hitting arc and had him caught at cowl.
Bangladesh really ended up attacking extra balls than India did on this sport – 49 to 48 – however a number of them had been panicked swings. It goes to indicate that readability is essential in T20 cricket. Kuldeep denied them that as a result of they could not decide the ball out of his hand. Jasprit Bumrah performed his half as properly, 15 of his 24 deliveries yielding dots together with two wickets.
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
