Home ›› 03 Nov 2022 ›› Sport
It all looked merry well for Bangladesh when Liton Das was batting. It looked like they would finally, finally beat India at the T20 World Cup.
But some sloth batting at top from Najmul Hossain Shanto, perfectly matched by some clueless batting from the middle-order meant the Tigers fell short. Again. Agonisingly again. By just four runs.
When Bangladesh came down to chase 185, Liton simply blew the Indian bowlers away as he put on a show for the Adelaide crowd with his majestic shots and brilliant timing. He notched up his fifty in just 21 deliveries, the second-quickest in this year's tournament.
And Bangladesh were off to a flyer. Before the rain came in, they were 66-0 in seven overs. That meant they were 17 runs ahead of the DLS par score.
But then, everything went haywire. The field was hastily made ready, the target was revised to 151 off 16 overs, meaning Bangladesh needed 85 runs in the final nine overs, something easily achievable with all 10 wickets in hand. Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan looked disgruntled with the decision of returning to the field so early, but the call was made.
What followed can barely be explained from the Bangladesh batters. Liton was the first to go when he slipped while turning trying to take a two, and a brilliant direct throw from the deep from KL Rahul saw the right-handed batter gone.
Then, Najmul Hossain Shanto finally accelerated a tad after he scored only four runs in 12 balls in the powerplay. His acceleration only took him to 21 off 25 balls as he was dismissed trying to clear the field.
Then, the middle-order collapsed in a manner that has no explanation.
Shakib Al Hasan, Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, and Mosaddek Hossain- all tried to play big shots and tried to clear the field, when they needed just over 10 runs per over in the last five overs.
But all they did was mindless slogging, and fell like dominoes. Their batting was so dismal that Nurul Hasan Sohan's late burst of 25 from 14 deliveries could only take the Tigers to four runs away from the win.
The whole match was a reflection of the 2018 Asia Cup, when Liton played a blinder and scored 121, bashing Indian bowlers all over the park. But all the other batters faltered, and Bangladesh could only manage 222, which India surpassed on the final ball.
It was also reminiscent of Bangladesh's heartbreak in Bengaluru in 2016, when they failed to score two runs off the last three balls and fell one run short.
The blame, like 2018, will go on the middle-order. Shakib, Afif, Yasir, and Mosaddek played a combined 23 deliveries, where they only scored 23. They only hit two fours and one six in total, but all got out trying to clear the field.
The batting was brainless because both Shakib and Afif tried to clear Arshdeep Singh for a six in the leg-side, despite the whole leg-side boundary being guarded.
Yasir failed to deal with a short ball, continuing on his poor run, and Mosaddek once again showed that he lacks prowess against pace bowling.
After yet another agonising defeat against India, Bangladesh skipper Shakib admitted that it has been like that for them against India but also took the positives.
"It's been the story when we play India. We're almost there but don't cross the line. It was a great game, the crowd enjoyed it, both teams enjoyed it. In the end, someone has to win and someone has to lose.
"Liton is batting really well, probably he's our best batsman going around. We thought we could chase this down after that start.
"Our plan was to get India's top order quickly, that's why I bowled out Taskin, he's been our main bowler. Unfortunately he couldn't get wickets today, he was unlucky but it was a plan to get India's top order out to dictate the game. We're positive, we wanted to enjoy this World Cup, hopefully we can continue this," Shakib said in the post-match presentation.
Bangladesh can do nothing but take positives because what happened on the field had no explanation. They can only hope they can do better in their final match of the tournament against Pakistan.
