Liton smokes India but others can’t ‘get across the line’
Liton Das was on fire and seemed to have left all his doubts in the dressing room when he came out to bat with Bangladesh staring at a 185-run target against India.
He always appears to have more time than most batters out on the field, but having not opened the innings in a while, Powerplay carnage from Liton had been missed by Bangladeshi supporters for a while.
After dropping Soumya Sarkar, the team management decided not to protect Liton, but to instead unleash him and the right-hander almost took the game away from India in the first seven overs before rain interrupted. Coupled with that extra time Liton finds to play his shots, Liton's balance flows through to a strong flourish which makes him such a dangerous prospect in the Powerplay.
He took on Arshdeep Singh and reserved the first six of the innings for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, robbing back onto the back foot and blazing it into the Adelaide sky over deep square-leg. He slapped the next delivery over mid-off for four before a deft glide down to the third-man boundary for another four.
The best shot of the innings had come against Mohammad Shami, when Liton stepped out and timed it over cover to perfection.
Bangladesh had reached 66 for no loss in seven overs, finding themselves 17 runs ahead of the DLS par score when rain interrupted proceedings.
More significantly, that break disrupted Liton's flow.
After the delay, the match was curtailed by four overs and Bangladesh required 151 runs from 16 overs.
Then that run-out happened, with KL Rahul producing a direct hit after Liton had slipped while turning for the double. Infuriated, Liton walked away after an astonishing 27-ball 60.
From then onwards, Bangladesh's momentum began to wane.
"It's been the story when we play India. We're almost there but don't cross the line. It was a great game, the crowd enjoyed it and both teams enjoyed. In the end, someone has to win and someone has to lose. Liton is batting really well, he's probably our best batsman. We thought we could chase this down after that start," skipper Shakib Al Hasan said at the post-match presentation after Bangladesh could not manage the 85 runs they required with nine overs left.
While Liton countered most of that early swing and bounce from India's pacers with ease, most of the others tried focusing on power instead of using the pace, perhaps in part due to the players' lack of experience playing in Australia.
Bangladesh's batters often looked to 'hit against the tide' as Tom Moody put it. Thus, from overs nine to 13, Bangladesh managed 34 runs and lost five wickets. Shanto, Afif Hossain, Shakib and Yasir Ali departed after skying deliveries because they wanted to get under deliveries more than was necessary.
Nurul Hasan showed how to then go back to a firm base to play shots as the Tigers made a match out of it, falling short by just 5 runs.
"We're positive, we wanted to enjoy this World Cup, hopefully we can continue this," Shakib concluded. Positivity was present with the selection of four pacers but length deliveries cost Bangladesh in the death overs as India climbed to a huge score. Liton opening was another such positive and Bangladesh fans will be hoping for a similar brand of cricket in their final Super 12 match against Pakistan in Adelaide on November 6.
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