By Rex Clementine
India’s unbeaten run in the ICC T-20 World Cup continued and they are proving that it will take a special effort from a team to go past them as several of their players are producing match winning performances. India completed a 50-run rout of Bangladesh on Saturday in Antigua and will be through to the semi-finals if Australia beat Afghanistan later on Saturday.
It was yet another clinical performance by the champions of the inaugural edition of the T-20 World Cup and these big wins when the team is yet to fire on all cylinders should be pleasing Rahul Dravid, who is on his last assignment as India’s Head Coach.
India have not won an ICC event since beating Sri Lanka in the 2011 World Cup and this could be there big moment.
It was Hardik Pandya who set up India’s big total of 196 for five after being put into bat first. Pandya’s 50 off 27 balls with three sixes and four boundaries helped India go beyond the par score of 180.
At 108 for four in the 12th over, Bangladesh looked to have got things under control, but Pandya together with Shivam Dube added 53 runs in 34 balls to seize back the initiative.
It was Pandya’s first half-century in T-20 Internationals since scoring 63 against England in Adelaide in the 2022 edition of the T-20 World Cup. Pandya often doesn’t get much time to spend at the crease, which is why big scores have eluded him, but on Saturday, he was left with more than eight overs and he did justice to big hopes the team has on him.
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was tough to get away with as he ran through Bangladesh’s middle order with three wickets and his four overs cost just 19 runs.
Jasprit Bumrah was as reliable as ever with only 13 runs scored off his four overs. In the process, he picked up the wickets of Najmul Hossain Shanto and Rishad Hossain.
Arshdeep Singh was impressive as well picking up two wickets and Bangladesh were restricted for 146 for eight as India wrapped up an easy 50 run win.
Despite the loss, Bangladesh will take heart by the fact the improvements all-rounder Rishad Hossain is showing. While his leg-spin fetched two wickets, Hossain scored 24 off 10 balls with three sixes and one four.
India now move to St. Lucia for the game against Australia which potentially can become a dead rubber if the Aussies beat Afghanistan.
