By: Tarish Bhatt
Defending 11 off the last over in a T20 game is not a joke, especially if the opponent has four wickets in hands, but the Indian Cricket Team managed to do just that against Bangladesh in Bangalore.
Hardik Pandya, who was bombarded with inputs in the last over by teammate, delivered probably the best over of this World Cup 2016 to help his side register a narrow win by just a run.
Indian captain MS Dhoni, in the post-match press conference, revealed what they were discussing in the final over, while also praising young Pandya.
“There were quite a few stuff we were discussing, one thing was for sure, we did not want him (Hardik) to bowl a yorker,” Dhoni said. “It had to be a back of a length, but how back of a length, that was the question.”
“You don’t want to bowl a wide,” he added. “We were deciding out field and I think he executed really well. It’s nice to have good plans but the plan only looks good when it is executed well.”
Veteran seamer Ashish Nehra was also giving his constant advice to Pandya, when he was hit for nine runs in the first three balls. Whatever Nehra said to Pandya surely worked at the end.
“I don’t want to say everything but the decision was what length to bowl, what line to bowl,” Dhoni said. “If you are going for yorkers, what is the field and also keep in mind about the strength of the yorker.”
The result has ended Bangladesh’s campaign, as it was their third successive defeat in the ‘Super 10’ stage. India, on the hand, now just need to beat Australia in their last group game to seal semifinal spot.
