Bangladesh won the toss and opt to bowl
his has been the best batting surface India has played on and they have rightly notched up their highest total in the tournament. The start was pretty good as Rohit and Kohli were off the blocks quickly, though the former departed within the fourth over, Kohli and Pant kept the scoreboard ticking. Both got to their 30s and threw it away. Dube took his time but caught up with a 24-ball 34. But it was Hardik’s knock that gave India the impetus towards the end. He was at his best as he took the onus and got the score close to 200. Bangladesh are not out of this as the pitch did look good for batting and they have the firepower to chase this total down.
Hardik Pandya: Wicket looked alright, the par would have been 180, but we got 197 I think that is like a good score here. Hopefully with our bowling line-up, with a little bit of consistency, we will be able to do well. He (Dube) had to take his time because his role was to take on the spinners, I think when the time came we both were allowed to free our hands and that was very important to us. It tends to get slower at the end, discipline and good bowling will be crucial.
No teams have successfully chased a 180+ target in all T20s in North Sound before.
196/5 by India
third highest total for India in T20 WCs
highest total in T20Is in North Sound
13 sixes by India today – the most they have hit in a T20 World Cup match surpassing 11 against England in Durban in 2007.
India win by 50 runs and have one foot and two hands into the semis. At the innings break, Aaron Finch was asked if this target can be chased down and he categorically ruled it out. And India put in a professional perfomance to prove him right. 197 was always going to be a mountain to chase on this and the powerplay was crucial. Bangladesh did not get the quick score they needed to put pressure on India and once the ball got soft and the spinners came in, it was hard to put the ball away. Shanto tried as he hit a couple of sixes in one Hardik over but India never allowed the rate to go down. Kuldeep bowled a wonderful spell and the others just did their jobs to perfection. The fielding too was quite good with catches taken to go with good ground fielding. Bumrah was again outstanding and India look a well-rounded outfit in these conditions.
Hardik Pandya | Player of the Match: We have played really good cricket. More than anything we have stuck together and executed our plans. I did realise the batters wanted to use the breeze, I made sure I did not give them a chance where the wind was blowing, it was about being one step ahead as a batter. We as a group can get better in a lot of places, losing wickets in bunches is something we can rectify and get better at, apart from that, we are looking good. I have been fortunate to play for the country, it was a freak injury I had, I wanted to come back but God had other plans. I was talking to Rahul [Dravid] sir the other day, and he said: Luck comes to people who work hard and that has stuck with me for a long time.
Najmul Hossain Shanto | Bangladesh captain: We were thinking about 160-170 when we put them into bat, but they batted well so credit to them. [on the weather and wind] I don’t think that is an issue, the players are habituated to that. We did not show as much intent as we needed with the bat, when we are chasing 190, we needed to show more intent especially in the first six. I try to contribute but need to finish the games. Tanzim Sakib in this tournament has done a great job and happy for Rishad too, we have been looking for a good legspinner for a long time now.
Rohit Sharma | India captain: [on playing aggressively with bat] I have been talking about this for a long time now. It’s about going there and putting that into work. Considering everything we played really well, adapted to the conditions. There’s a little bit of wind factor here, overall, we are very smart, overall, we were good with bat and ball. All eight batters need to play their role, whatever it is. We saw one guy get 50 and we got 197, in T20 I don’t believe we need to get fifties and hundreds, what matters is the pressure you put on the bowlers. All the batters from the word go played like that and that’s how we want to play as well. There is a lot of experience in the squad and we back them. [on Hardik] I mentioned in the last game as well, him batting well puts us in a good stead. We want to finish well after the top 5, 6, Hardik being Hardik we know what he is capable of. He is a very important player for us, if he can keep doing that, it will put us in good positions. Excitement and if we discuss something with the bowler and when it come off, it’s nice. Everyone when it came to our bowling adapted well and we discussed those things and they did well.
India march on as they stay unbeaten in the tournament. They are all but confirmed for the semis where they will play in Guyana.