India Dominated Bangladesh in T20 World Cup Warm-Up Showdwon
India vs Bangladesh ICC T20 World Cup warm up showdown: Bangladesh didn’t learn as much from their warm-up match as India did.
Hardik Pandya gave a reminder of his outstanding all-around abilities as India defeated Bangladesh 60 runs in New York to prepare for the T20 World Cup, following a challenging IPL season on many fronts.
Bangladesh 122 for 9 (Mahmudullah 40, Arshdeep 2-12, Dube 2-13) was defeated by India 182 for 5 (Pant 53, Hardik 40*, Suryakumar 31) by a margin of 60 runs.
Before giving up 20 in his third over, Hardik amassed an undefeated forty-one off 23 balls and claimed 1 for 10 in his first two overs. However, it was encouraging for India to see their star all-rounder make such an impact on the match, given the two-paced pitch and slow outfield, which aided his bowling but not necessarily his batting.
The other standout performances were from Arshdeep Singh, who claimed two wickets during a burst of sharp new-ball swing, and Rishabh Pant, who was dismissed after reaching a brisk fifty-three off only 32 balls.
Since Virat Kohli arrived in New York just before this game, it was anticipated that he would not participate in the practice match. The fact that Yashasvi Jaiswal, the second contender to open with Rohit Sharma, didn’t appear was unexpected, though. Instead, Rohit and Sanju Samson opened for India.
It might have been a tryout for the starting wicketkeeper position. Samson scored one run off of six that day, but a Shoriful Islam in-ducker had him out of the game in the second over. Samson had to leave since DRS was not in operation, even though there appeared to be a probability that this ball would have missed leg stump.
After Samson was substituted, Pant played the day’s most fluid innings. In the sixth over, he started India’s acceleration with three sixes off Shakib Al Hasan, and they were 33 for 1 in five overs. He targeted the space behind the wicket with skill, employing the reverse-sweep and his signature no-look scoop over short fine leg to devastating effect. In all, he struck four fours and four sixes.
Towards the conclusion of the day, it appeared highly likely that Pant would don the big gloves when India play Ireland in the tournament proper on Wednesday, as opposed to Samson, who kept wicket as well.
The other two main contributors to India’s total of 182 for 5 were Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik, who combined to score 71 off 41, while Shivam Dube, who batted between them at No. 5, found the going difficult. Dube scored 14 off 16 balls despite hitting the spinners with repeated swings, but he only managed one true connection—a huge six over wide long-off.
Then, even though Bangladesh was already 42 for 5 when he entered the field, he went on to bowl three here and take two wickets despite having only bowled one over in 14 IPL games.
Axar Patel, the other left-arm fingerspinner for India, bowled ahead of Ravindra Jadeja, who was batting at number seven, and took a wicket. Which of the two will start for India in their first XI is still to be seen, as is whether they would start with both and omit wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav.
India will play three of its four group-stage matches in New York, and if the weather holds steady, their four all-round players—Hardik, Jadeja, Axar, and Dube—should be able to bowl quite a bit.
Also Read: India vs Pakistan: Thrilling ICC World Twenty20 World Cup Final 2007 Recap
The first name on India’s bowling squad sheet is Jasprit Bumrah, but who pairs with him when the new ball is introduced? Arshdeep made a strong case for himself on this particular day, hitting the new ball with incredible force and dismissing Litton Das and Soumya Sarkar in a style reminiscent of a Test match.
Along with being great, Mohammed Siraj also caused the ball to behave strangely from a hard length. With one such delivery, which cramped Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto, he was dismissed. If India choose to go with two frontline quicks and Hardik as the third seamer, they will have a difficult time choosing just one of these two based on their performances thus far.
Bangladesh entered this match fresh off an unexpected series loss to the United States of America. The outcome confirmed their biggest concerns heading into the World Cup, primarily their chronic deficiency in power hitting. In their 20 overs, India blasted eleven sixes and Bangladesh hit just one. Only Mahmudullah, who top-scored with a 28-ball 40, out of the four hitters who faced at least 10 balls in their pursuit of 183, batted at a rate of more than a run per ball.
In addition, Mahmudullah bowled two clean overs, got rid of Rohit, and made the play of the day by racing to his right from long off and deftly juggling the ball as he left and returned to the playing field. For the 38-year-old, it was a successful day overall.
Bangladesh experienced a scare of injuries when a left-arm rapid Five balls into India’s last over, Shoriful was forced to leave the field after taking a hard blow to his left hand while trying to stop Hardik’s straight smash. By the time the game was over, it was unclear how serious his injuries was.
Yet the resources that both teams had access to may have inflated India’s victory margin. The majority of India’s early damage was caused by their quicks, who combined to take four wickets and reduce Bangladesh to 41 for 5. But Bangladesh only managed to bowl five overs at true pace, with Soumya Sarkar bowling one at a moderate medium pace. This was due to the fact that they rested Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed, two players who would have posed issues for India on this field.
