Bangladesh played out of their skin to beat India by 6 runs in the last game in the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup. Bangladesh put up a score of 266 runs in 50 overs, against a second-string Indian bowling attack as the main players were rested in a dead-rubber game. India found themselves in trouble losing early wickets in the powerplay and the four-pronged Bangladesh spin attack led by Shakib Al Hasan tied down the batters in the middle overs. In the end heroics from Shubman Gill and Axar Patel were not enough as India fell short.
India made 5 changes to the team that beat Sri Lanka with Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj being rested. Despite getting knocked out of the tournament, a new-look Bangladesh displayed a fearless brand of cricket, with clever bowling and aggressive batting towards the end.
The match held no meaning to India, as they had already qualified nor to Bangladesh, who were already knocked out, however, which was why both the teams decided to test their bench strength. India won the toss and asked Bangladesh to bat first, hoping to give their batting lineup the challenge of chasing under the lights.
Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur, back in the side made early inroads and cleaned up the Bangladesh top order inside the first 6 overs. Shakib Al Hasan came in and played some shots, but Mehidy Hasan Miraz struggled to get going. Indian fielders offered Miraz two chances in the same over of Shardul Thakur, before Ravindra Jadeja ended his stay at the crease, putting India in a strong position as Bangladesh found themselves at 59-4.
Shakib Al Hasan and Towhid Hridoy got together and rebuilt the Bangladesh innings, as they scored freely against India’s left-arm spinners. The pace trio of Shardul Thakur, Mohd Shami, and Prasidh Krishna had kept a tight leash on the runs until that point, but the introduction of spin let Bangladesh come back into the game. Shakib Al Hasan cleverly switched between gears smashing 3 maximums off the left-arm spinners.
Shakib fell after the drinks break, as Shardul Thakur broke a 100-run stand. Bangladesh once again found themselves in trouble at 161-6, however, they found an escape yet again, scoring 93 runs in the last 12 overs thanks to cameos from Mahedi Hasan and Nasum Ahmed, which meant that Bangladesh finished at 265 in their allotted overs.
Bangladesh had a new-look bowling lineup that included 4 spinners and an experienced pacer in Mustafizur Rahman, but the star of the opening overs was a newbie Tanzim Hasan Sakib, who took the wicket of Rohit Sharma in the second ball of the innings and did a cartwheel of Tilak Varma’s off stump. The surface had turned for the bowlers who were now extracting seam and uneven bounce along with some turn from the wicket.
Shakib introduced off-spin against the right-handers who were not bowling attacking lines but did economical spells and bowled tight lengths. KL Rahul whipped a ball straight to mid-wicket off off Mehidy Hasan and Ishan Kishan followed him after a seemingly struggling stay in the crease. Suryakumar Yadav scored 26 off 34 deliveries, however, it was more of a precarious innings as he continuously relied on the sweep shot to negotiate the spinners.
SKY was finally bowled by Shakib Al Hasan after getting away more than once, trying to sweep a length ball. Shubman Gill was batting on the other end and seemed to be in a different mood altogether, as he mixed patience and aggression together respecting good balls and smashing the odd length ball out of the park.
He scored his first hundred for India in ODIs while chasing, which contained 5 sixes. Ravindra Jadeja failed to support Gill as he got out trying to slog an incoming delivery from Mustafizur. India still looked very much in control as there was Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur yet to come. Gill and Axar counterattacked the spinners adding a partnership of 39 runs.
Shubman Gill finally fell after trying to repeat a six off Mehidy Hasan, scoring a massive 121 runs. Axar Patel continued the onslaught after scoring continuous boundaries off Mehidy. However, Axar was deceived by an off-cutter from Mustafizur and was caught in the deep. India needed 12 in the final over with Shami on strike, with Tanzim bowling the final over. The clever pacer deceived the number-10 with a flurry of slower deliveries, and he eventually ran himself out trying to sneak a double of the second last ball.
Despite being a dead rubber, India would be happy to have got the challenge they wanted and Bangladesh would be happy to have snatched a confidence-boosting victory with a second-string bowling attack.
Yes, we gave the guys a chance who haven’t played much. After the last couple of games here, we thought spinners would do well – Shakib Al Hasan
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan was speaking in the presentation ceremony and said that he was happy with his performance and satisfied that it resulted in the team’s victory. Shakib Al Hasan praised the youngsters, who were given an opportunity today, for performing on a challenging wicket. Shakib Al Hasan was confident about his team posing a strong challenge in the upcoming World Cup. Shakib Al Hasan said that it was a collective effort from the side.
“Today, I went early and had time to spend on the crease. It was a challenging wicket. It was seaming a bit and it got easier when the ball got older. (On Mahedi Hasan) It wasn’t an easy time to bowl, he came to bowl and got us the breakthrough.” said Shakib Al Hasan.
“He also bowled five overs at the end which is not easy for a spinner. Also, Tanzim bowled well at the start and took two wickets. We have got a very good team. A lot of players were injured and some going in and out, that didn’t help us. I think we will be a dangerous side in the World Cup” he stated.
India will play Sri Lanka in the finals of the Asia Cup on Sunday.