Bangladesh’s journey in the Twenty20 World Cup is all but finished having lost two games at a stretch in the Super Eight phase of the competition.
The Tigers were humbled by former champions India by a 50-run margin at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua Saturday.
Chasing 197, the fourth highest total in this edition, Bangladesh were restricted to 146 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs, in Group 1 fixture of the second round of the competition.
Bangladesh had started the second phase of the tournament with a 28-run loss [Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method] to Australia.
The men in red and green’s below-par batting once again made the side suffer.
Despite being a good batting track, Bangladesh failed to assert themselves, as has regularly been the case in recent times.
Bangladesh added an extra batter to the XI; batter Jaker Ali Anik making a return in place of pacer Taskin Ahmed.
The change had raised curiosity given Taskin’s form and that he is the vice-captain of the side.
However, due to the ongoing game, an explanation to the alteration was not possible to obtain.
The opening stand between Liton Das and Tanzid Hasan Tamim broke with 35 runs on the board after the former perished to Hardik Pandya scoring 13 off 10.
This triggered fall of wickets in regular intervals from which Bangladesh could not recover and the run rate spiked as a result.
Tanzid scored 29 off 31, the second-best contribution in the innings, but it was captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto who could put up some semblance of resistance.
Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha’s confidence on Shanto scoring on a good batting track came true as the left-handed batter laced with three over boundaries and one boundary made a convincing 40 facing 32 deliveries.
It was another low-key day for Towhid Hridoy [four] and Shakib al Hasan [11] while Mahmudullah could add only 13 runs to the tally before falling as the eighth wicket of the innings in 19.5 overs.
Left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav caused the most damage to the Bangladesh line-up picking up three wickets.
Earlier, India were invited to bat first and their openers began proceedings on a high with captain Rohit Sharma hitting a boundary on the first ball of the innings off off-spinner Mahedi Hasan.
Rohit and Virat Kohli together put on 49 runs inside 3.3 overs before left-arm spinner Shakib removed Rohit for a 11-ball 23.
Rohit had skewed the ball high in the air over the mid-off region only to find Jaker at extra cover.
Then came a double blow initiated by Tanzim Hasan Sakib as the right-arm pacer removed Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav to leave India reeling on 77 for three inside nine overs.
Tanzim first removed Kohli who was cruising along well against both Bangladesh pacers and spinners.
The former India captain got out for a 28-ball 37 after he stepped out but got foxed by the slower off-cutter to get an inside edge and into the stumps.
India lost two more wickets from here but also found three more 30-plus innings, including Hardik Pandya’s fourth T20 International half century.
Bangladesh leg-spinner Rishad Hossain bagged two wickets in Rishabh Pant and Shivam Dube but both had already done the job scoring 36 off 24 and 34 off 24 respectively.
Pandya finished the India innings on a high, fetching 18 runs in the last over off left-arm paceman Mustafizur Rahman and remaining unbeaten on 50 off 27 balls at a 185.18 strike with four boundaries and three over boundaries.
Shakib bagged another feat to his name, notching 50 wickets in T20 World Cups, but on the day was costly, giving away 37 runs in three overs for one wicket.
Bangladesh in their last game of the Super Eight stage will face Afghanistan at Arnos Vale Stadium in Saint Vincent Monday.
Bangladesh will head home with their ambition fulfilled, that is to play the second round of the tournament which, incidentally, was the same 17 years ago, in the maiden edition of the T20 World Cup.
47TH MATCH
India 196/5 (Pandya 50*, Tanzim 2/32) beat Bangladesh 146/8 (Shanto 40, Kuldeep 3/19) by 50 runs
