T20 World Cup 2022: 2 mistakes and 1 masterstroke by India in their Super 12 clash against Bangladesh
Team India went one step closer to booking their spot in the semi-finals of the 2022 T20 World Cup, beating Bangladesh by five runs in a last-ball thriller at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday, November 2.
On the back of a loss to South Africa, India needed to come out firing against the Tigers. They amassed 184/6 on the back of fifties from KL Rahul and Virat Kohli before surviving a Litton Das scare to get over the line by a narrow margin in the final over.
Here are two mistakes and one masterstroke by India in their T20 World Cup clash against Bangladesh.
#3 Mistake - Powerplay bowling and match-ups
After putting 184 on the board, India would've been fairly confident of a comfortable win. Bangladesh are not known for their explosive batting and haven't been fluent in the powerplay thus far in the T20 World Cup. But the India clash was an aberration.
Litton Das, promoted to open the batting, took the attack to the Indian bowlers even as his opening partner Najmul Hossain Shanto struggled at the other end. The keeper-batter brought up the second-fastest fifty of this year's tournament in the last over of the powerplay, having taken the attack to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammad Shami.
Bhuvneshwar didn't try to pitch it up and induce false strokes, while Shami didn't hit the deck often enough. Perhaps the short square boundaries played on the Indian bowlers' minds, but their planning and execution in the powerplay were off. Moreover, Rohit Sharma could've introduced spin early on to curb Litton's shot-making.
#2 Masterstroke - Retaining faith in KL Rahul and Ravichandran Ashwin
Ahead of the Bangladesh clash, Team India head coach Rahul Dravid came out in staunch backing of KL Rahul despite the opener recording three consecutive single-digit scores. Saying that the team management knows what Rahul is capable of, Dravid threw his weight behind the batter.
Rahul repaid the faith to a certain extent against Bangladesh. Although he looked edgy in the first few overs, especially while facing up against Taskin Ahmed, the 30-year-old came into his own as the game progressed. He cut loose towards the end of the powerplay and in overs 7-9, hitting three fours and four sixes in his 32-ball 50.
It would've also been easy for India to select a wrist-spinner against Bangladesh, knowing the Tigers' weaknesses against that type of bowling. Ravichandran Ashwin, who had a tough outing with the ball against South Africa, retained his place in the playing XI, though. Not just because Bangladesh had four left-handers in the top six, but also because the veteran off-spinner is more than capable of contributing a few handy runs.
That's exactly what happened in Adelaide as Ashwin hit a four and a six in the final over of India's innings, taking their total to a respectable 184. Although he had another unimpressive outing with the ball, his runs made a huge difference in the context of the game.
#1 Mistake - Powerplay batting, once again
India are yet to score more than 40 runs in any of their batting powerplays in the 2022 T20 World Cup. They managed 37 against Bangladesh, losing Rohit Sharma in the fourth over.
Virat Kohli came in and tried to play his shots against Taskin, nearly being dismissed on several occasions. Rahul was circumspect at the other end, as he almost always is at the start of his innings.
Rohit has spoken about an attacking template, but we haven't quite seen that in the T20 World Cup so far. India will want to make more of the field restrictions in the upcoming matches, with Rahul's early intent and Rohit's form being major talking points.