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Shami, batters help India go 1-0 up
India went up 1-0 in the three-match ODI series with a comfortable five wicket win riding on the heroics of Mohammed Shami (5/51) before a collective batting performance rounded off the chase.
Set a target of 277, India were well on course for a big win with Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shubman Gill putting on a fluent 142-run opening stand. The latter continued his good form and set the tone early by cashing in on any width offered by the Australian pacers in the powerplay by peppering the offside fence.
Gaikwad started off on a relatively slower note but soon caught on, matching Gill’s offside boundaries at will en route his maiden ODI fifty. The partnership was so commanding that Australia barely produced a chance with the ball, barring one when Gaikwad was put down by Josh Inglis behind the stumps on 17.
When the chances finally came though with the introduction of Adam Zampa, India had a solid foundation already but it threatened to be shaken albeit briefly. Gaikwad was out LBW trying to sweep Zampa before Shreyas Iyer was run out after a big mix-up with Gill. Zampa brought Australia firmly back into the game when he rattled the stumps by going past Gill’s cut with a flipper. Losing three wickets for nine runs left India in a jittery position, and was amplified when Ishan Kishan was out caught behind on 18. But the nerves were put to rest by an assured partnership between KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav for the fifth wicket.
Suryakumar, after three golden ducks in previous ODI outings against Australia, found his tempo by tempering his sweep shots and concentrating on playing straight right through. Resultantly, a couple of crisp straight drives put his innings on course alongside a solid Rahul. Suryakumar brought up his third ODI fifty, and first in 11 innings, that ticked another box in India’s preparation for the World Cup. Even as he departed, with India a couple of hits away from the win, the chase was finished off in style by Rahul who got to his 14th ODI fifty with a couple of clean lofts in the long off area.
That the chase was completed without breaking much sweat thanks to the bowling performance earlier in the day, with Shami starring right through.
Shami kick-started the innings on a good note after India opted to bowl, having Mitchell Marsh caught in the lone wide slip in just the first over. However, Australia fought back through a sprightly 94-run stand between David Warner and Steve Smith. The former was put down on 14 by Shreyas Iyer at mid off, and made India pay for it with his 29th ODI fifty. Along with Smith, who kept one end busy, Warner was threatening to up the ante in the middle overs with not much assistance on offer for the bowlers.
But Warner fell, holing out to long on against Jadeja while Shami came back for another spell and got the better of Smith with a sharp incoming delivery. Australia recovered from the double blow with a steady stand between Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green before a brief rain interruption halted play.
Soon after the break, R Ashwin got another ODI wicket against his name when Labuschagne was a trifle unlucky to be out stumped off a ricochet from Rahul’s pad. India’s largely lacklustre fielding efforts did not prevent the run out of Cameron Green after a big mix-up with Inglis.
Inglis made amends though with Marcus Stoinis as Australia hit back with a counterattacking partnership worth 62 runs in 41 balls. The duo were lethal with their power-hitting with Inglis’ slashed six over extra cover against Bumrah being the pick of the innings.
But just as Australia were threatening to get away, Shami came back to first have Stoinis bowled and then Inglis caught at deep midwicket. He finished up with a well-deserved second five-fer in ODIs when Sean Abbott dragged on against a slower delivery. Cummins chipped in with a 9-ball 21 that lifted Australia past 270 eventually.
Brief Scores:
Australia 276 all out in 50 overs (David Warner 52, Josh Inglis 45; Mohammed Shami 5-51) lost to India 281/5 in 48.4 overs (Shubman Gill 74, Ruturaj Gaikwad 71, KL Rahul 58*, Suryakumar Yadav 50) by 5 wickets
(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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