India had lost to Bangladesh thrice in the past. On Thursday, it was the fourth occasion when they were outplayed again by 79 runs. Surprisingly, India didn’t look like the side, which had won 25 out of 30 games against Bangladesh.
Put to chase a 308-run winning target, India started off well at the Shere Bangla National stadium in Mirpur, but lost their way to a crushing defeat. It turned out to be a complete humiliation after the visiting team were dismissed for 228 in 46 overs.
Both the openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan gave a steady start to the Indian chase. But within a span of 33 runs, India lost five wickets. The match was as good as over for India in the 26th over itself after Dhoni got out to Shakib Al Hasan.
For Bangladesh, left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman claimed five wickets on his ODI debut. The 19-year old was accurate, sharp and was also accused of blocking the opponent batsmen twice while they were running between the wickets.
Previously, he made a successful T20 international debut against Pakistan in April. Mustafizur was well supported by Taskin Ahmed, who used his height well and surprised a few of the Indian batsmen with his pace.
A lot of criticism was floating around when Bangladesh picked four pacers in the playing XI. The pundits termed it by saying that it was ‘an incorrect call’ on flat pitch, where slow bowlers could have done the tricks. But in the end, the move turned out to be master-stroke.
Earlier, Dhawan was dropped twice before getting out on 30. He didn’t look the same batsman who had scored 150 plus runs against the same opposition during the one-off Test only a few days ago.
In comparison, Rohit Sharma batted with certain degree of authority. India were always in their game as long as Rohit was in the middle. He also shared a crucial 95-run stand with Dhawan, but that didn’t stop Bangladesh in registering their ninth successive win at home.
The stage was set for Virat Kohli to take care of things – just like the 2015 World Cup semifinal match against Australia. Unfortunately, he failed again this time. Ajinkya Rahane too missed the opportunity to make the most of the momentum.
It was Suresh Raina, who showed the will to stay at the crease and fight it out till the end. He got out on 40. Even Ravindra Jadeja batted well to bring in a glimmer of hope. But Raina’s dismissal wrecked everything.
There were moments in the first essay of the match when Indian could have done better with the ball. After the Bangladesh openers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar gave a rapid start to their innings, the Indian bowlers came back strongly into the match through R Ashwin’s superb spell.
But the rest of the bowling department failed to stop the free flow of runs from the Bangladeshi bat.
In fact, India frittered away the opportunity while Shakib and Sabbir Rahman held the Bangladeshi innings together in the middle overs. Later, Nasir Hossain and Mashrafe Mortaza helped their team to go beyond the 300 run-mark. Initially, they were looking good to go beyond 350.
Footnote: Bangladesh qualified for the Champions Trophy after this win against India.
