India vs Bangladesh Played at Cardif
Brief Score Card
India 359/7 ( MS Dhoni 113 , K Rahul 108 , V Kohli 47 ,Shakib Al Hasan 2/58 ,RubelHossain 2/64 ) beat Bangladesh 264 All Out ( Musfiqur Rahim 90 , Liton K Das 73, MehedyHasanMiraj 27 , SoumyaSarkar 25 ,K Jadhab 3/ 47 , Y Chahal 3/55, J Bumrah 2/ 25) by 95 Runs
Formidable Team India bounced back after suffering crushing defeat in the first match against New Zealand. Playing to full potential they outplayed and outclassed Bangladesh beating them by 95 runs in a one sided warm up match.
The first match of Bangladesh against Pakistan was rained ruined. Bangladesh failed to keep the momentum going after wrenching initial control sending back four top Indian batsmen including to pavilion with not too many runs scored. Rohitand Dhawan could do little .
Kohli was cleaned up yorked by a brilliant Saifuddindelivery when he was shaping up for some thing big. The young lad will remember this for a long time. Vijay Shankar could not do any damage. But from there India won back the momentum
Many questions which puzzled India over the past few days as to who should bat at four and which spin combinations should they choose were mostly answered. Bangladesh winning the toss and putting India into bat bowled reasonably well reducing India to 102/4 exposing Indian middle order a bit too early.
But Bangladesh bowlers failed to keep the momentum going against quality Indian middle order. KL Rahul batted superbly and MS Dhoni was at his brilliant best. Starting a bit slowly the pair took the steam out of Bangladesh attack. KL Rahul producing a high quality century proved a point that in the star studded batting line up he is the best choice for batting at four with two maestros Kohli and Dhoni on either side of him.
Once settled Rahul and Dhoni butchered Bangladesh bowling mercilessly adding 164 quick runs for the 5th wicket. Bangladesh spinners were smoked all over the park. Only part time leggie Shabbir looked competitive .Shakib, Miraj and Moassdeq leaked runs. Rahul scored a high quality 108 cementing his position in the team ahead of Karthik.
His innings contained 12 boundaries and four strikes across and over MS Dhoni was ruthless in his 113 smoking 7 sixes and 8 boundaries.
Indian middle order looked to have recovered wellfrom shock and awe of the first warm up match against New Zealand. 359/7 is too large a score for teams like Bangladesh considering the diverse high quality attack that India possesses.
Mustafiz ,Mashrafee, Rubel and Saifuddin bowled well early. But spinners could not keep the momentum going. Bangladesh sadly missed a quality wrist spinner. Ball also did not turn that much. Indians are the best players of spin as well. One can not judge the quality of spinners when Indian batsmen treat them like chalk and cheese.
The wicket dried a lot when Bangladesh started their reply. In the absence of Tamim the innings was opened through Soumya and Liton. They were going smoothly till Indian x-factor Bumrah struck double blow in his 5thover .Soumya and Shakib were sent back in successive stuttering Bangladesh innings .Mushfique joined Liton . Their partnership was the best part of the Bangladesh innings. They kept the score board moving taking sharp singles and scored boundaries at regular intervals. They added 120 precious runs in the 3rd wicket before two world class Indian spinners KuldeepJadhab (Left Arm Unorthodox) and leggie Chahal started teasing and turning the ball on the dried out surface.
Liton was deceived by teasing flight ball. Dhoni whipped the bail lightening fast .Liton scored a bright a well compiled 73. Mohammad Mithun was gone very next ball failing to read Chahalgoogley . Suddenly the innings lost momentum. Mushfique was going Ok.
If Mahmudullah could stay longer with him Bangladesh could challenge the target. Jadeja was bowling tight from one end .Jadhabreturning to attack struck double blow removing Mushfique and Mosadeeq in consecutive deliveries. Mushfique scored 90 and Mithun a golden duck like Shakib. Earlier Mahmudullah was removed by Jadeja. Very little was left in Bangladesh batting. All Bangladesh late order could manage scoring 264 and bringing down the margin of defeat to two figures 95 to be exact .Chahal and Jadhab got 3 wickets each and Bumrah took two upfront.
India with very strong batting and resourceful bowling attack shaped up well in the second warm up match. Bangladesh riding high till the match have to learn quick and address where they have shortcoming. The bowling is at least a quality spinner short for challenging top teams.
BDST: 1039 HRS, MAY 28, 2019
AH
