Sports
Pant, Iyer put India in strong position
INDIA TOUR OF BANGLADESH 2022
Rishabh Pant (93) and Shreyas Iyer (87) both missed out on centuries but put India in a strong position with a significant 87-run first-innings lead on Day 2 of the second Test in Mirpur. Bangladesh bowlers, led by Taijul Islam (4-74) and skipper Shakib al Hasan (4-79) led the team’s fightback on either side of the damaging 159-run fifth-wicket partnership that came in just 30.1 overs. Bangladesh began on a bright note with Taijul’s triple strikes keeping a tight lid on India’s scoring in the morning session. He became only the second Bangladesh cricketer, after Shakib, to dismiss India’s top-three in an innings.
On a track which still had enough assistance for the bowlers, India’s sedate start to Day 2 was interrupted in the sixth over when KL Rahul was hit flush on the front pad. The loud, confident appeal was turned down on-field but Taijul convinced his captain to opt for a review with three seconds remaining on the clock, and was vindicated. He struck again on the first ball of his next over to take out the other overnight batter, Shubman Gill – trapped plumb in front this time after completely missing his attempted sweep.
While the runs weren’t exactly forthcoming, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli stuck it out. The third-wicket pair stitched a handy partnership of 34 but just as they looked settled in, an alert piece of fielding from Mominul Haque at forward short leg got Bangladesh another vital breakthrough. In disbelief, Pujara stood his ground even as the umpires went upstairs to check Bangladesh’s claim of a low catch. The India no. 3 had gently nudged a fuller delivery towards the close-in fielder, and the replays confirmed the catch to be legit.
India could have been in further trouble had Bangladesh latched on to any of the chances offered early on by Pant or Virat Kohli. While the former had slashed at a short and wide delivery from Mehidy Hasan Miraz that was shelled at slip, the latter nearly ran himself out, taking off for a non-existent single last ball before Lunch.
Although Kohli didn’t last long after. Taskin Ahmed, at the beginning of a testing post-Lunch spell, got the former India captain to poke at a delivery outside off and sent him packing for a hard-earned 24. However, that was only the beginning of a two-hour toil for the hosts as Pant and Iyer threw caution to the wind.
The pair transferred the pressure right back onto Bangladesh with a stunning counterattack that turned the game on its head. After being watchful for about a dozen deliveries upfront, Iyer took on the short ball challenge from Taskin and dispatched the pacer for back to back boundaries to get going. The extra bounce did take him by surprise early on. Iyer got away with one he awkwardly pushed at that flew just wide of gully but nearly got caught on 19 one ball later, slashing hard another such ball.
Pant meted out similar treatment to Khaled Ahmed, picking back to back boundaries as the pair raised their fifty stand in under nine overs. He took on Taijul next, merrily slog-sweeping Bangladesh’s best bowler on the day over cow-corner before reaching his own half-century in just 49 deliveries. Iyer got a second life on 21 when Nurul Hasan fluffed a stumping opportunity off Shakib, and the batter made Bangladesh pay immediately with two stunning boundaries – a late-cut and a loft straight down – to close the over leading up to the drinks break.
On the other side, Pant added insult to Shakib’s injury with a one-handed six smoked straight over long-on to force Bangladesh into a bowling change. That proved to be of little help though as the India ‘keeper welcomed Mehidy back into the attack with another maximum that would have ideally been caught at the ropes by the leaping Mushfiqur Rahim. Pant used his feet excellently to put the Bangladesh spinners under pressure, and Taijul was the receiving end once again when the batter brought up the hundred of his partnership with a four and India’s 200 next ball with another brutal hit over long-on ropes. A trademark one-handed 100m strike followed in the next over from Mehidy.
Iyer, who reached his second successive fifty of the series just before heading for Tea, put India in a lead with a brace right after. He then went on to raise both the impending milestones – 150 of the fifth-wicket partnership and India’s 250 – with a four each. But Shakib played the architect of Bangladesh’s little fightback in the evening that saw India lose their last six wickets for just 64 once Mehidy had managed to break the stand at 159.
Visibly in some discomfort, Pant fell in the 90s for the sixth time in Test cricket when he gently poked at a delivery spinning away from him to send an edge to the keeper. Axar Patel walked out ahead of Ashwin to help India maintain the left-right combination but departed cheaply, trying to take the aerial route against Shakib.
The Bangladesh skipper picked up the bigger prize in his next over, trapping Iyer plumb in front when he missed his sweep. Just 13 away from his century, the India batter opted for a desperate review but to no avail. Bangladesh had sent a couple of calls upstairs before Ashiwn was finally given out LBW to Shakib, who picked his third in quick succession.
Once Umesh Yadav had pushed India past the 300-run mark with his boundary-filled little cameo of 14, Taijul had him edging to slip for his fourth while Shakib got there a couple of overs later when Siraj slogged and missed and Nurul was quick to dislodge the bails.
With the pitch only getting tougher to bat on as the game progresses, India’s lead of 87 could prove quite handy. Bangladesh openers did manage to bring it down to 80 while safely negotiating a tricky phase of six overs under lights before the stumps were drawn.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 227 & 7/0, trail India 314 (Rishabh Pant 93, Shreyas Iyer 87; Taijul Islam 4-75, Shakib al Hasan 4-79) by 80 runs. (Cricbuzz)
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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