India vs Bangladesh, T20 WC 2022, 35th Match, Super 12 Group 2:India defeated Bangladesh by five runs in a rain-curtailed T20 World Cup match on Wednesday. Invited to bat, Virat Kohli and K L Rahul scored sparkling fifties to power India to 184/6. The under-fire Rahul returned to form with a 32-ball 50 before Kohli took charge of the innings with an unbeaten 64 off 44 deliveries.
Hasan Mahmud (3/47) was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh. Defending a revised target of 151 in 16 overs following a brief rain interruption, India restricted Bangladesh to 145/6. Liton Das top-scored for Bangladesh with a 27-ball 60. Arshdeep Singh (2/38) picked up two wickets for India.
Arshdeep will bowl the final over of the match, with 20 runs required for Bangladesh to win. Taskin inside-edges the ball past the keeper for a single. Hasan plays a wonderful pull-shot over square-leg for six runs! The next ball is a dot and Bangladesh need 13 runs from three balls. 11 required from two balls now as Hasan can only manage two runs down the ground. He plays a lovely square drive through point the next ball for a boundary. Six off the final ball required for a super over!
Pandya back for his final set. Taskin Ahmed plays a beautiful shot through the off-side for a boundary, before slogging it over mid-wicket for a maximum! Bangladesh require 20 from the final over. 6/131 after 15.
Arshdeep continues. Bangladesh aren’t going to die wondering, as Nurul Hasan hits a boundary from the first ball of the over. He plays a nice ramp shot for two runs and a flick through mid-wicket for two more, but they need boundaries now as the equation continues to get tougher with two overs remaining. 6/120 after 14.
In the end, it came down to between two youngsters who have tried to remain calm under pressure. In his brief career, Arshdeep has shown his temperament. On the other side, Nurul Hasan, once very emotional, has consciously tried to get it under control and remain calm. 20 runs needed, two young men at it. ‘I was a very emotional guy earlier but I really worked hard in this area and I haven’t turned into who I am today all of a sudden. I worked on myself for two-three years because I felt I needed to improve in this area (controlling my emotions).”
That was Nurul Hasan earlier this year. And boy did he walk the talk at the biggest stage at the World Cup. With 20 needed off the final Arshdeep over, he smashed a pull over deep square-leg that silenced the Indians at the crowd.
Arshdeep adjusted well by trying yorkers, real full balls, and Hasan got a few runs but no boundaries. With 10 needed off the final 2, Hasan went not only right back but also outside off, and Arshdeep stuck to his yorker plan. He only changed the line to outside off and Hasan sliced it calmly to point boundary.
with Six needed off the final ball, Arshdeep kept his cool and slipped in a real full ball and though Hasan tried valiantly, he couldn’t get under it with any power or elevation.
When he backed away in the penultimate over and smashed Hardik Pandya to the extra cover boundary, Taskin Ahmed would keep nodding his head at the partner. As if he were saying, ‘don’t you worry, I am not going down without a fight.’ He had bowled a dream spell, bowling out his four overs with the new ball for just 15 runs, and there he was now, swinging away to push India close. Hardik responded with a short ball, Taskin absolutely thumped it over deep square-leg boundary. He had done everything that was possible, and had left Bangladesh needing 20 from the final over. “20 is a lot, but 20 is not impossible,” Ravi Shastri would say on air.
The big cover has come off but there is still some light drizzle at the Adelaide Oval.
The rain is not easing. It is in fact getting heavier. This could be a lengthy delay, which could help Bangladesh. No word on a potential return to play yet, but the rain is easing somewhat. Bangladesh are ahead on DLS at this stage.
Rain and DLS may have forced his hand, but in rotating his pacers and refusing to give the ball to Axar Patel, Rohit Sharma prevented an onslaught from Shakib Al Hassan. Shakib set himself up to beat the spin after moving in the crease cleverly and getting back-to-back boundaries off Ashwin. And it was likely to get worse against Axar. Left-arm spinners are generally vulnerable to left-handers, but Axar has been particularly weak. His T20I economy rate against left-handers is 8.58 as opposed to 6.68 against right-handers. The Indian team has been well aware of this weakness – he has bowled just 857 balls to left-hand batters and 2385 to right-handers in his career. Playing Axar against a team packed with three left-handers in the top order may seem like an unnecessary risk now.
The Bangladesh innings has been reduced to 16 overs. The target for them is 151 runs. 85 more requires in 54 balls for Bangladesh to win against India. Match to resume within the next 10 minutes. The Indian team is still near the dugout. Even if the match resumes, it won’t be a full 20 overs game. The rain has stopped now. Umpires are walking to inspect the conditions. It is not just Litton Das who is troubling India in Adelaide; they have had some issues defending targets recently. From the time they lost to Pakistan in the Asia Cup in September, India have failed to defend a target in four out of seven matches – against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Dubai, against Australia in Mohali and against South Africa in Perth. Two of the three wins have come against the likes of Afghanistan and Netherlands, and even in the remaining third game, David Miller had given them a mighty scare with a 46-ball century in Guwahati, as South Africa fell short of a mammoth total of 237 by just 16 runs.