T20 World Cup: India tops table with tense 5-run win over Bangladesh

India moved to the top of the table and closer to a semi-final berth after registering a come-from-behind five-run win via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method over Bangladesh in a rain-hit Super 12 contest of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Adelaide on Wednesday (November 2).

In a game that was marred by rain, the ‘Men in Blue’ bounced back brilliantly after Bangladesh had a superb start to their run chase of 185.

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India turned the game on its head after the rain break with Bangladesh set a revised target of 151 from 16 overs. When the rain stopped play, Bangladesh was cruising at 66/0 in seven overs, thanks to opener Litton Das’ quickfire half-century.

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Once the game resumed, Bangladesh needed 85 off 54 with all 10 wickets intact. KL Rahul’s direct hit sent back Das for 60 off 27 and the team had a mini-collapse in the middle. From 66/0, it became 108/6. However, Nurul Hasan (25 not out off 14) and Taskin Ahmed (12 not out off 7) kept fighting and took the game to the last over.

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With 20 needed off the final over bowled by Arshdeep Singh, Hasan smashed a six and a four. Bangladesh, with Hasan on strike, required a six to tie the match off the final ball and Arshdeep held his nerve to deliver a tense victory for India.

Arshdeep and Hardik Pandya took two wickets apiece while Mohammed Shami had one.

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India is now on top of the table in Group 2 with six points from four games. It will play Zimbabwe in the final league game on Sunday (November 6). Bangladesh is third in the table with four points from as many matches.

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Rahul back in form

Earlier, Virat Kohli’s eternal love affair with the Adelaide Oval continued as he powered India to an imposing 184/6 against Bangladesh with a beautifully crafted 64 not out.

There were eight fours and a six in his 44-ball innings as none of the Bangladesh bowlers had any answer for his exquisite stroke-play.

The pitch was way slower compared to Perth and the Bangladesh bowling attack fizzled out under extreme pressure in the post-Powerplay overs as KL Rahul (50 off 31 ball) also returned to form with his first fifty of the tournament.

Kohli, en route to his third half-century of the competition, had couple of useful stands – 67 for second wicket with Rahul and 38 for the third wicket with Suryakumar Yadav (30 off 15 balls).

India skipper Rohit Sharma (2 off 7 balls) couldn’t capitalise on the dropped chance in the first over off Taskin Ahmed’s (0/15 in 4 overs).

Shakib Al Hasan (2/33 in 4 overs) picked wickets of Rahul and Surya but Taskin undoubtedly was the best bowler on view.

A total of 104 runs in eight overs were conceded by left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam (0/57) and Hasan Mahmud (3/47).

Having copped a lot of criticism over the past three games, Rahul got into his element. He played his customary ‘pick-up pull-shot’, which is a whip off the wrists behind square for a six.

With skipper Rohit dismissed cheaply, Kohli eased the initial pressure put by Taskin with some fleet-footed running between the wickets.

Rahul took 20 balls to score his first 21 runs but once the Powerplay was done away with, he suddenly upped the ante as in one over from Shoriful, he hit a short-arm pull over deep mid-wicket and a slash over backward point for two maximums.

That ninth over from Shoriful yielded 24 runs and the pressure was completely released on the Indian batters.

Rahul’s next 29 runs came off 10 balls before his 31-ball-50 ended when an attempted lap-shot found the top-edge and Mustafizur took a well-judged catch off skipper Shakib’s bowling. The second wicket stand yielded 67 in just 5.5 overs.

Kohli at the other end hit a flurry of boundaries – a couple off Taskin, one from Mustafizur and the best of the lot – a copybook off-drive that one can watch on the loop as many times one wishes to.

The stage was set for Suryakumar and he responded in style with a quickfire cameo before Shakib’s arm ball breached his defence.

However, Kohli continued to attack from one end to take India to an above-par score even as Hardik Pandya (5), Dinesh Karthik (7) and Axar Patel (7) couldn’t provide much support towards the back end.

Ravichandran Ashwin (13 not out off 6 balls) did hit some lusty blows which could prove to be very useful in the final context of the match.

Bangladesh gave it their all, but India reign in Adelaide 🙌#T20WorldCup | #INDvBAN | 📝: https://t.co/vDRjKeeGvf pic.twitter.com/EOMtLYt3zb

— ICC (@ICC) November 2, 2022

(With agency inputs)