Finance
On a difficult pitch where few of his colleagues connected with the bat, opener Shubman Gill stood tall, hitting his fifth ODI century, a scintillating 121 off 133 balls. However, it was in vain as Bangladesh defeated India by six runs in a dramatic Asia Cup Super Four encounter on Friday at the R. Premadasa Stadium.
After captain Shakib Al Hasan and Towhid Hridoy hit half-centuries before the lower-order batsman stepped up to take Bangladesh to 265/8, Tanzim Hasan Sakib took 2-32 on debut before the four-man spin attack relied on pitch turn and bounce to choke India.
Despite Gill’s brilliant knock, where he hit eight fours and five sixes, and Axar Patel’s rapid 42 off 34 balls towards the end, it wasn’t sufficient. India’s innings concluded at 259 in 49.5 overs, with Mustafizur Rahman claiming three wickets. This marked Bangladesh’s triumphant exit from the competition.
Tanzim struck twice in the opening three overs of India’s chase of 266. Captain Rohit Sharma chipped an early drive straight to cover-point on his outswinger, while Tilak Varma’s debut innings ended with him shouldering arms for an away-going delivery only to have the ball come in and hit the stumps.
Gill excelled at getting on top of the bounce to cut, drive, and punch with precision, whilst KL Rahul was deep in the crease and executed his cut shots brilliantly. But he was soon trapped at the crease and, in an attempt to escape, lashed straight to mid-wicket off Mahedi Hasan.
In the 20th over, Gill danced down the pitch against Mahedi, heaving him over mid-wicket for six and reach his half-century in style. But he was losing partners from the other end as Ishan Kishan missed a reverse sweep and was trapped plumb lbw by Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
Suryakumar Yadav utilized the sweep shot extensively in his 34-ball stint, which included two boundaries, while Bangladesh’s spinners stepped up to stem the run-flow. However, his use of sweep made him very predictable, which led to his downfall when he was cast by Shakib Al Hasan in an attempt to sweep again.
Even when Ravindra Jadeja was castled after entirely missing the ball on a cross-bat hoick, Gill danced down the pitch to hammer Shakib for two sixes over the long-on fence. Gill reached his century in 117 balls, with a brace through deep midwicket and back-to-back fours against Tanzim, before heaving Mahedi for six.
But on the very next ball, Mahedi pitched the ball slower and outside the off-stump, on which Gill lofted, but holed out to long-off. Axar, who survived an LBW appeal, kept India in the hunt by pulling and heaving Nasum for four and six respectively.
In the 48th over, he followed it up by lofting Mahedi down the ground for four and six runs. In the next over, however, Rahman flipped the game on its head, as Thakur clipped a full-toss to square leg and Axar holed out to long-off soon after hitting a four, ensuring Bangladesh’s victory.
Earlier, Bangladesh were in shambles at 59/4. Shakib top-scored with 80 and formed a 101-run partnership with Hridoy, who produced a beautiful 54.
Nasum, Mahedi, and Tanzim batted well in the lower order, scoring 44, 29 not out, and 14 not out against an Indian bowling attack missing Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj.
Tanzid Hasan hammered three magnificent boundaries against Shardul, two of which were back-to-back well-timed drives. By getting the ball to move in off the seam and casting Litton Das through the gate, Mohammed Shami provided India’s first breakthrough.
Shardul removed Tanzid in the next over as he dragged onto his stumps while attempting to pull a short ball. Shardul’s second victim was Anamul Haque Bijoy, who top-edged a pull to Rahul in his first ODI since December 2022.
Tilak and Suryakumar dropped catches to knock Mehidy out off Shardul’s bowling, and India could have put Bangladesh in greater danger in the 10th over. Four overs later, Mehidy edged to Rohit at slip moving to his right.
While Shakib kept one end going with drives and sweeps, Hridoy was quick to respond by smacking Tilak for a pair of sixes over long-on and deep mid-wicket. Axar found more turn, but Hridoy got an outside edge between the keeper and the slip for a four-point play.
Shakib also grabbed a four from Jadeja then danced down the field to hit Axar for two sixes, one of which gave him his 55th ODI fifty. He then scored four with a fortuitous edge past the keeper and six with a slog-sweep off Jadeja. Hridoy then smashed back-to-back fours off Shardul, putting the 100-run partnership between him and Shakib.
However, Shardul instantly struck as Shakib sliced onto his stumps on the first ball after the drinks break, followed by Jadeja trapping Shamim Hossain lbw for his 200th ODI scalp. Hridoy marched closer to his fifty by utilising Axar’s pace to land the shot past backward point for four, before holing out to Shami at deep mid-wicket.
Bangladesh’s bid to reach 250 looked doomed, but Nasum, Mahedi, and Tanzim put on an amazing exhibition of stroke play to add 87 runs and propel the side to a winning score.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 265/8 in 50 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 80, Towhid Hridoy 54; Shardul Thakur 3-65, Mohammed Shami 2-32) beat India 259 all out in 49.5 overs (Shubman Gill 121, Axar Patel 42; Mustafizur Rahman 3-50, Tanzim Hasan Sakib 2-32) by six runs
Source:IANS
