The rising force in world cricket has just again proven they cannot be counted off any more. They deserve a place as the best, and they shall earn it.
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Bangladesh, the ever consider minnow in international cricket, has won their first bilateral series against a full-strength India, in back-to-back ODI’s. While Indian fans across cannot understand what has transpired, fans and players in Bangladesh are over the moon having clichéd a historic ODI series win.
This has been Bangladesh’s best moment in Cricket history and the series win means they are guaranteed a place in Champions Trophy to be played in 2017. Let’s read on to know in depth some of the reasons that led to this rather shameful loss for India.
Casual Indian approach
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Unused to this kind of a treatment from Bangladesh, India took the series very casually, just like they did a year ago when they played a second string team. Back then, India managed to clinch the series by 2-0.
This wasn’t to happen again! Bangladesh who had managed an ODI series win against Pakistan (another first for the Tigers), for India, they were always going to be a formidable task. Bangladesh showed they are second to no international team, dominating India in both the matches of the three ODI series. Bangladesh achieved comprehensive wins in both the matches; they won the first by 79 runs and second by six-wickets.
The series until now has been all about the rise of Bangladesh as a cricket playing nation. The consecutive series wins against the two of the best teams in Asia is no fluke, it’s a rising wave that will take some asking to stop.
Record debut by Mustafizur Rahman
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Bangladesh wasn’t at all intimidated by the star-studded batting line-up of the Indian team, and this was seen in the way 19-year-old debutant Mustafizur Rahman bowled. Left-arm seamer has been the architect of Bangladesh victory.
He has been the start performer with 11 wickets in the series in just two games (one match yet to be played). Rahman has baffled India’s batsmen with his accuracy, off cutters and the slower deliveries.
With two five-wicket hauls in the first two games of international cricket, Rehman has become only the second bowler in ODI ever to have done so.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza has been all praise for the young performer, Mashrafe said,
“The way Mustafizur is bowling, suddenly he has become the big fish of the tournament. Many such series are coming up and I hope we continue this good form in the future as well.”
Aggressive batting by non-star Bangladesh team
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If your lineup on paper was an outright claim that your team with do well; in this series Bangladesh has proven that incorrect. The little known Bangladesh batsmen looked far superior on the pitch than the yes, “Star-studded” Indian batting lineup.
The Bangladesh batsmen looked aggressive and completely at ease against the Indian bowling lineup. They picked bowlers like school bullies, and were very decisive in their stroke-making. Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar proved they are an opening pair to reckon, and the middle order made the most of their early start.
India on the other hand had the most ordinary batting performance, which was the reason for their downfall. In post match conference, skipper MS Dhoni confessed that he was unhappy with Indian batting, there was lack of runs and the middle order failed repeatedly. Failing to post totals on the board was not possible as the batsman failed to build partnerships.
Disciplined bowling by the Tigers
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It was not only with the bat, if they had to beat India, they had to perform with the ball too. And boy did they – led by the debutant Mustafizur Rahman (who exploited the playing conditions like no India bowler could) the bowling unit performed to the best of their ability.
Bowlers didn’t allow the Indian batsmen to settle, they picked up wickets at regular intervals. Even when they didn’t get wickets, they kept the proceedings tight, which meant India couldn’t score more than 200 odd in both the matches.
Indian bowlers on the other hand were completely undisciplined; except for R Ashwin, no other bowler could make an impact. Umesh Yadav couldn’t get the reverse swing going (which the Bangladeshi bowlers managed), Bhuvneshwar Kumar was flat, Mohit Sharma was everywhere and Ravinder Jadeja probably seemed he has forgotten how to ball.
Bangladesh has won the series; they rubbed team India face first in mud, now what remains is to see is how the team handles the aftershocks.