3 positives for India from their 2nd T20I win over Bangladesh ft. 7 bowlers among the wickets
Team India left no stone unturned at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi as they walloped Bangladesh by 86 runs on Wednesday, October 9. With the win, Suryakumar Yadav and Co. sealed the three-match series.
Bangladesh came into the contest hoping to repeat their win over India in Delhi back in 2019, but they never even got close. Despite troubling the home side at times, the margin of victory was far too big to suggest that there was ever a contest.
As the Men in Blue move towards better opponents and gear up for the 2026 T20 World Cup, they will take heart from such displays. On that note, here are three positives for India from their win over Bangladesh in the second T20I.
#3 Seven bowlers picked up wickets for India
Suryakumar wasn't shy of throwing the ball to his part-time options in the second T20I against Bangladesh. He used as many as seven options, and all of them ended up among the wickets.
Hardik Pandya, who bowled four overs and picked up two wickets in the opening T20I, wasn't required with the ball. Nitish Kumar Reddy, Varun Chakaravarthy and Mayank Yadav bowled their full quota of four overs, while Riyan Parag, Abhishek Sharma, Washington Sundar and Arshdeep Singh chipped in as well.
For a team looking towards their frontline batters to roll their arm over, it was a massive positive.
#2 India's game awareness in the first innings was excellent
Bangladesh came into the contest with three frontline pace options in the form of Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Mustafizur Rahman. The Tigers had to use most of their pace overs up front, with the ball stopping and India finding spin easy to tackle.
That meant that captain Najmul Hossain Shanto had to find overs from his spinners, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Rishad Hossain, in the later half of the innings. India capitalized on that, with Nitish Kumar Reddy in particular taking a liking to both Miraz and Rishad. Rinku Singh and Hardik Pandya played their part as well.
India were happy to let Taskin bowl out his four overs with excellent figures and instead capitalized on the loose deliveries they were offered. That excellent game awareness was one of the biggest reasons behind them crossing the 200-run mark by a big margin.
#1 India put 221 on the board despite losing three wickets in the powerplay
This may have been a situation that India got themselves into with poor shot selection and application, but once they did, they ensured that they didn't stay there for long. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Rinku Singh put on an excellent partnership to help India out of a situation in which they lost three wickets in the powerplay.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav mentioned the same at the post-match presentation, insisting that he was delighted with the way the middle-order batters showed application. Nitish and Rinku didn't step on the accelerator too early and instead bided their time, waiting for the right matchups to show up.
Moreover, in a hugely encouraging sign for India, Hardik Pandya got off the blocks right from the outset, while even Riyan Parag chipped in with a couple of sixes. After the setback of losing quick wickets in the powerplay, which usually kills T20 matches before they start, India not only get themselves out of that situation but also posted an excellent score.