Bangladesh taste 50-run defeat to India

Bangladesh put a listless performance to taste a 50-run defeat to India in their ‘do or die’ clash in the Super eight phase of the T20 World Cup at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Saturday.

The defeat, their successive second in this phase, ruined their hopes to play the semifinal for the first time in tournament’s history.

India put up a mammoth 196-5 and the had Bangladesh held off to 146-8 on the back of some superb bowling. The victory helped them made a giant stride towards the semifinal of yet another ICC tournament.

Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was the wrecker-in-chief with 3-19 from four overs while fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was as usual unplayable even in a good batting pitch as he scalped 2-13 from four overs.

Pacer Arshdeep Sing returned figures of 2-30 and Hardik Pandya who blasted 27 ball-50 not out with the willow, finished with 1-32.

For Bangladesh, captain Najmul Hossain Shanto was the top-scorer with 40, hitting one four and three sixes from 32 balls. Opener Tanzid Hasan Tamim made 29 and Rishad Hossain clubbed an entertaining 10 ball-24.

But Bangladesh went nowhere right from starting the chase as they were well below par as far as the asking run rate was concerned.

After lifting the side to a respectable total, Pandya broke through with the wicket of Liton Das (13) who was baffled by the slower delivery and chipped it straight to Suryakumar Yadav.

Kuldeep strangled Bangladesh, varying his pace well and confounding the batters with sly googly that was hard to read.

He removed Tanzid and Towhid Hridoy (2) in his consecutive two overs to leave Bangladesh at 66-3. Shakib Al Hasan tried to curb his dominance by hitting him a six but Kuldeep took the sweet revenge by getting rid of the ace allrounder, changing his pace well.

Bumrah then returned to his second spell to dismiss Shanto before ending Rishad’s high-octane innings, varying his length cleverly.

Arshdeep Singh also had his say when he got rid of Mahmudullah in the penultimate delivery of the innings as Bangladesh tasted a big defeat.

Put in to bat first, Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma gave the India a fluent start before Shakib Al Hasan broke through with the wicket of the latter for his 50th wicket in T20 World Cup history.

Having done so, he became the first bowler in the tournament’s history to take 50 wickets.

Rohit made 23 off 11 while Kohli gave the glimpse of returning back to form with 28 ball-37 that studded with one four and three sixes.

Pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib removed Kohli and then took the prized scalp of Suryakumar Yadav for 6 to finish with 2-32.

Tanzim’s double strike put India a troublesome 77-3 ninth over but India’s middle order was unfazed. The likes of Rishab Pant and Shivam Dube kept hitting all the things, thrown at them in impeccable fashion to leave Bangladesh bowlers in disarray.

They were particularly harsh on leg-spinner Rishad Hossain who was the most successful bowler for the team in the previous matches. But the young leggie saw the other side of the coin against a quality batting attack. He ended with two wickets but conceded 43 runs in three overs.

Rishab Pant made 34 while Shivam Dube scored 34 at a strike rate over 140 and set the platform for Hardik Pandya.

Pandya responded aggressively, smacking four fours and three sixes in his 27 ball-50 to help the side edge closer to 200.

Bangladesh will take on Afghanistan in their last match of the Super 8 on Tuesday at St Lucia, a slow-paced pitch which would suit their bowling attack.