ICC World Cup 2019 Match No 40 Played at Birmingham of 2 July 2019

India Vs Bangladesh

Brief Scorecard

India 314/9 (RG Sharma 104, KL Rahul 77,R Pant 48, MS Dhoni35 , V Kohli 26, Mustafiz 5/59, SoumyaSharkar /1/33, Shakib Al Hasan 1/41, RubelHossain 1/48) beat Bangladesh 286 All Out in 48 Overs (Shakib Al Hasan 66, Mohammad Saifuddin 51*,SabbirRahman 36,Soumya Sharkar 33,Mushfiqur Rahim 24,Liton K Das 22,Tamim Iqbal 22, JJ Bumrah 4/55, HH Pandya 3/60) by28 Runs

Player Of the Match;Rohit Sharma

Many say Bangladesh is a land of unfulfilled dreams, unrealized promise. That believes strengthened when the cricket world cup dreams went down fighting to India by 28 runs yesterday by 28 runs at Birmingham. India limped into semi final. The dream run of the golden generation of .Bangladesh cricket team would start disintegrating .Mashrafee days is almost over.  That hungry tiger may not run again.

I am not sure about one or two of bulous five lasting till next world cup. Bangladesh will have to start regrouping for future .India put up a challenging score of 314/9. The best of Bangladesh was going as close as 286 all out in 48 overs . Bangladesh could view the target but could not reach. The feature of the match was aggressive batting of Rohit , Rahul and Pant , brilliance of Mustafiz with the ball and off course excellent all round performance of the number one all rounder of all format Shakib . The catch that Tamim dropped early of Rohit would be discussed for a long time and would haunt him as well.

Question would also be asked whether Mashrafee still deserves a place in the team as bowler. India kept their nerves when Bangladesh threatened to overhaul the target. As many as 7 players got start scoring between 22 and 66 . But none stayed long enough to take Bangladesh across the rope.India with 13 points from 8 matches consolidated their position among top four. Bangladesh even if they beat Pakistan in the last match can at best finish 5th.

Kohli won the most important toss and was lucky to have first use of the slow, gripping used wicket. Bangladesh did admirably well restricting India to 314/9 burgeoning at one stage 0/180 in the 30th over. Rohit Sharma (106) scored his 4th century of the world cup after getting reprieved at 9 .Tamim dropped a dolly off Mustafizat deep square leg.  Brilliant bowling of “Fizz” took 5/59 did not let free stroking Indian middle order bat Bangladesh out of the match. Other than Rohit (106), Rahul (77), Pant (48), Dhoni (35) and Kohli (24) none could sustain the brilliance of Mustfiz trademark slow cutters. Shakib also bowled miserly conceding only 41 runs in his 10 overs and taking the wicket of aggressive Pant before he could make major damage. India from a position of great strength 4/237 in the 39th over could not sky rocket as Mustafiz in his last spell shocked and rocked taking 5/25 in his last 5 overs.

Chasing 315 on a sluggish wicket gripping and turning against high quality Indian attack was not easy at all. Bangladesh started carefully against Kumar and Bumrah. Tamim was looking in great touch playing some delectable strokes. Shami coming to bowl as first change did the damage cleaning up Tamim before his budding innings of 22 could bloom. Bangladesh lost him at 39 within the first power play. Shaib joining Soumya was looking sublime stroking the balls freely around. The second wicket partnership produced 35 runs before Soumya was picked up by Pandya two genius Shakib and Mushfique added 47 for the 3rd wicket. Bangladesh could be better served if this partnership could grow bigger. But Chahal did the damage removing Mushfique (24). When all these were happening Shakib was playing superbly never letting run rate going out of sight .Liton also settled 22 of 24 deliveries before Pandya cut short his innings. Bumrah in his new spell clean bowled Mosaddeq.

Bangladesh was 5/173 in the 33rdover .Shakib produced yet another fifty and looked set for his mission. But the deadly blow was served yet again by Pandya taking the wicket of Shakib (66). Even after his fall of Shakib, Sabbir and Saifuddin kept the momentum going with 66 runs 7th wicket partnership. It was Bumrah again who came in between clean bowling Sabbir (36). Saifuddin was the lone warrior as Mashrafee ,Rubel or Mustafiz did not have the quality or temperament to sustain the brilliance of Kumar and Bumrah in the death overs. Saifuddin remained stranded at 51. Bangladesh innings folded at 286 losing by 28 runs. In modern cricket it is very much possible scoring 28 in 12 deliveries. But Bangladesh tail failed to stay with their budding all rounder. The fairy tale run of team tigers in world cup 2019 is effectively over.

In retrospect few things would come up in post mortem of the match .Mashrafee perhaps have got past his effective days as a bowler. For his performance alone he does not command a position in the team. In 8 matches of this world cup he never looked like getting wickets. The great ambassador of Bangladesh cricket must not become a burden of the team. It is time he signs off with all the honors and respect he deserves. Bangladesh can not challenge superior teams with Mashrafee handicap. I won’t discuss Tamim miss a great deal. It happens as a part of the game. But when you see Rohit’s innings made the difference you must weigh the damage that lapse did. Bangladesh desperately needs an able new ball partner of Mustafa. The way ball turned and gripped even MehedyMiraj was a better choice in the match than Mashrafee. Even on this wicket great Shakib bowled tight and batted superbly. He is a class apart.

Anyway Bangladesh did not die wondering. India was stressed to their limits.  Bangladesh roared back into the match in the last stage of Indian innings. At different stages when they batted appeared to be on the course. But India kept their nerves. Hope Bangladesh wins their last match as Pakistan would come hard in that match being their life and death match.

BDST: 0931 HRS, JULY 03, 2019

AH