India Back On Track, Oust Bangladesh From Cricket World Cup 2019

India were back to winning ways after a hiccough against England a couple of days ago. In what was a knockout match for Bangladesh to stay in hunt for the semis, India knocked them out but not before a fight. India scored 314 for 9 on the back of Rohit Sharma`s record 4th ton of this world cup and stopped a buoyant Bangladesh 28 short of the target.

India chose to bat first and looked determined to wash away the memories of a shock defeat, not just from England from a couple of days ago but also from Bangladesh in world cup 2007 which resulted in an embarrassing early exit for them. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma started the innings positively for a change and went about their business of laying a strong platform for the batsmen to follow with utmost ease.

Rohit got an early reprieve when Tamim Iqbal dropped a sitter at mid wicket when Sharma had made just 9 runs and he made them pay and how. Rohit went on to hit 5 sixes in his innings of 104 runs which is also a record 4th century in a single world cup. He becomes the first Indian batsman and only second batsman in the world after Kumar Sangakkara to have scored 4 tons in any ODI series including world cups. Sangakkara had scored 4 consecutive centuries in 2015 world cup.

While Rohit was busy punishing Bangladeshi bowlers from one end, KL Rahul was pacing his innings at the other. Rahul once again got a start but failed to convert it into a big one as he fell for 77 runs off 92 balls. After a grand opening partnership of 180 runs in 29 overs, Indian middle order batsmen once again failed to make a mark in the final overs as they mustered just 63 runs and lost 5 wickets in the final 10 overs of the innings to fall short of the expected score by at least 40 runs basis their score at the 35 over mark when they had more than 200 runs on the board with 8 wickets in hand.

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Virat Kohli made a run a ball 26 to fall after yet another start as Hardik Pandya followed him a couple of balls later for a duck. Rishabh Pant made a useful 48 runs from 41 balls while Dhoni could manage a 33 ball 35 runs which again lacked impetus in the slog overs. A score which looked like reaching 360 at one point was finally settled at 314 runs for the loss of 9 wickets as Indian batsmen had no answers to Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rehman today. Shakib finished with 41 for 1 in his 10 overs while Mustafizur claimed a fifer, giving away 59 runs in his quota.

Bangladesh has always been a dangerous team but in this world cup they have gone onto another level. They have consistently made over 300 runs in this series and had also chased a score of 322 in just 40 overs against the West Indies earlier in the tournament. The chase of 315 runs was not going to be a cakewalk on a slow pitch but it wasn’t out of their bounds either. Bangladesh started steadily before Shami bowled Tamim Iqbal in the 10th Over of the innings with the scoreboard reading 39 runs.

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Bangladesh batsmen have been in an excellent form this summer and it showed with the ease all of them started their innings. Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur, Liton, Shabbir and Saifuddin all made useful contributions but failed to make an impact as India kept striking at regular intervals. The first five partnerships of Bangladesh innings read 39, 35, 47 and 41 runs which meant that all batsmen played themselves in but could not convert it into a meaningful score. Shakib was again looking imperious before a slower ball from Hardik Pandya did him in for 66 runs and at that moment the score was 179 for 6.

The hopes were lost if you were a Bangladesh fan and the match was won of you were an Indian fan but all were in for a surprise. Shabbir Rehman and Mohd Saifuddin started to stitch together a brave and result defying partnership for the 7th wicket. The ball started to travel to the boundaries at small intervals. Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, Pandya and Shami were suddenly looking hapless as the Bangladeshi pair took the fight to them.

They added 76 runs together in just 10 overs to get in the sight of the target which seemed impossible at one stage. Another Jasprit Bumrah special ended this partnership as his slower ball crashed into the stumps to send Shabbir back for 36 runs. This did not deter Saifuddin as he continued dealing in boundaries and was specially hard on Shami. 43 runs were required off the last 4 overs and it looked within the reach of Saifuddin if he had the support of batsmen at the other end but they kept deserting him.

Jasprit Bumrah once again returned for his final over and the 48th over of the innings to bowl the last two Bangladeshi batsmen off the last two deliveries of his over and spell to give India a semi final qualifying win. Saifuddin was left stranded on 51 off just 38 deliveries, 28 short of the target.

With this loss, Bangladesh are officially out of the race for semis and now England, Pakistan and New Zealand have to wrestle out for 2 remaining semi finalist spots. India had made changes in their side today by bringing in Dinesh Karthik in place of Kedar Jadhav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar for Kuldeep Yadav. While DK failed to impress, Bhuvneshwar bowled well but it would be interesting to see if Team India continues with 4 seamers and 1 spinner which clearly has not been their preferred choice in recent years.

The form of Rohit, Rahul and Kohli will be reassuring for Team India and Rishabh Pant’s inclusion has given them the required impetus in the middle overs but MS Dhoni`s strike rate will remain a concern. Bangladesh on the other hand may have not had their best world cup standings but this was definitely their best performance ever. They are not just a team looking for upsets now. Bangladesh are now a genuine force to contend with and have many match winners in their team which will take them only higher from here.

Brief Scores (India v Bangladesh):

India: 314/9 (50 Overs)

Bangladesh: 286 all out (48 Overs)

M.O.M. : Rohit Sharma

Key Records (India v Bangladesh):

• The ODI Match between India and Bangladesh was ODI no. 4182.
• Virat Kohli won his 55th ODI as India Captain.
• Indian Opening Batsman Rohit Sharma was declared Man of the match for his 104, which was his 26th ODI Century. This was Sharma’s 18th Man of the Match award.
• Rohit Sharma’s century was his 4th from Cricket World Cup 2019. With this he became the first Indian and second overall (after Kumar Sangakkara) to score four centuries in a single ODI Series and a single edition of Cricket World Cup. Sangakkara scored four centuries in Cricket World Cup 2015.
• During his knock, Rohit Sharma became the second Indian Batsman (after the Great Sachin Tendulkar) to score 500+ runs in a single World Cup. Sachin has done this twice: 523 runs in 1996 Cricket World Cup and 673 runs in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.
• After this innings, Rohit Sharma has 8554 runs from 213 ODIs.
• KL Rahul scored his fourth ODI Half century from his 21st appearance for India.
• Bangladesh’ Mustafizur Rehman took 5 for 59 during Indian batting and this was his fourth 5 wicket haul. He’s just two wickets away from 100 ODI wickets (98 wickets from 53 matches).
• Bangladesh’ All rounder Shakib Al Hasan scored 66. This was his 46th Half Century. He has now have 6259 runs from 205 ODIs.
• Bangladesh’ Mohammad Saifuddin scored an unbeaten 51.  This was his second half century.
• Jasprit Bumrah’s 4 for 55 was his fifth 4 wicket haul. He’s just a wicket away from his 100 ODI wickets (99 wickets from 56 matches).
• This was India’s 30th win against Bangladesh. They have played 36 matches and Bangladesh have won 5.