A powerplay attack, a threatening rain break, however, it was the Indian bowlers who stood up in crunch moments and overcame all the factors to lead the Men in Blue to a thrilling 5-run win against Bangladesh in a crucial Group 2 clash in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 at the Adelaide Oval.
Team India were caught off-guard in the second innings when Bangladesh opener Litton Das came out all guns blazing. It was diametrically opposite to the start India got in the powerplay with the bat as they were slow to get off the blocks but not Bangladesh as with the rain on the radar, Das ensured that his side stayed ahead of the target if it starts pouring during the match
Das smashed three boundaries in Arshdeep Singh’s over before hitting a six and a couple of more boundaries in the next over by Bhuvneshwar Kumar as he raced off to 28 off 11 balls. Das kept hitting and brought up his half-century off just 21 balls to get Bangladesh off to a sensational start as they had got 60 off the powerplay.
An over late the rain came and Bangladesh were 17 runs ahead of the DLS target. Even though it was a passing shower, the rain was heavy and threatened to take the game away from India. Thankfully, it stopped and Bangladesh now needed 85 runs off the next 9 overs, with the match being reduced to a 16-over clash.
KL Rahul, India’s hero with the bat in the first innings triggered Bangladesh’s collapse getting Das run out with a sensational direct hit. After which it was the Indian bowlers, who were all over the Bangladesh batters like a rash. Mohammed Shami dismissed the other opener Najmul Hossain Shanto and the Men in Blue’s best bowler in the tournament Arshdeep Singh, who found himself in a pressure situation bowling the last over, set the Bangla Tigers back with a couple of wickets in the over.
Hardik Pandya then took a couple of wickets and even though the wicket-keeper batter Nurul Hasan stayed unbeaten on 25* off 14, he couldn’t take his side over the line.
