Tigers waste a promising start
Bangladesh had complete control of things early on in the do-or-die match for India during the second T20I at Rajkot’s Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium yesterday.
Having been asked to bat, Liton Das and Naim Sheikh seized the upper hand right away. Naim latched onto three loose deliveries from Khaleel Ahmed for three boundaries on the trot, all off short balls as Bangladesh put pressure on an India side looking to keep the three-match series alive.
Liton was fortunate during his 21-ball 29, having a stumping disallowed by the third umpire in the sixth over because wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant had collected the ball fractionally in front of the stumps. 54 runs came from the Powerplay, and things only got worse for India when skipper Rohit Sharma dropped Liton off Washington Sundar on 26 in the seventh over.
Pant did not have to rue the mistake for long as Liton fell to a brain-fade, unable to read a googly from Yuzvendra Chahal and then risking a run without knowing where the ball went. Pant collected it and flung a direct hit to signal an end to Liton’s luck.
Soumya Sarkar joined Naim and started to play aggressively to keep the runs flowing but the latter who had played beautifully for his 31-ball 36, then skied one to lose his wicket off Washington Sundar. That is when India began to wrest control back from Bangladesh.
Hero of the last match, expectations were high that Mushfiqur Rahim would take Bangladesh to a challenging total. The right-hander however fell trying to sweep Chahal and Soumya fell in the same over, stumped playing a rash shot after a decent 20-ball 30.
The slump well and truly began from that point onwards and proved how important partnerships and wickets in hand were in the shortest format of the game. Mahmudullah Riyad was watchful while India tidied things up after bowling loose deliveries at the start of the innings.
The skipper played a few deft strokes but with runs not flowing on a surface tailor-made for big runs, Afif Hossain succumbed trying to cut loose and holed out at cover. Mahmudullah, upon reaching 30, maintained the pattern of Bangladesh batsmen getting starts in this match but not making it count.
With no set batsmen at the crease, the Tigers in the end managed what appeared to be a middling score of 153 for six on this surface, falling way behind their own expectations after the bright start from the openers.
Failure to keep focus and throwing away wickets undid the Tigers and they were left needing a special effort from the bowlers.
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