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Cricket Blog with news, opinion & talking points from Tests, ODI's and T20's. A little extra focus on the Proteas (South Africa) & India
Skipper Virat Kohli scored a masterful 94 as India comfortably chased down a seemingly stiff target of 208 in the first T-20 against the West Indies in Hyderabad on Friday.
India traditionally tend to be slow starters- Bangladesh beat them in Delhi last month in that series opener, but with Kohli back in the squad, they didn’t falter against the T20 world champions in Gachibowli.
India completed yet another innings victory- their fourth successive in tests at home this season, as they comfortably beat Bangladesh in Kolkata on Sunday.
Here are our talking points from the country’s first day & night test.
1. Team India create history
As mentioned above, this victory over Bangladesh was India’s fourth consecutive tests win by an innings, making them the first ever team to do so. South Africa were humbled in Pune & Ranchi and Bangladesh suffered the same fate in the first test at Indore.
This maiden pink ball game was also the shortest in terms of deliveries bowled in a test in India (968), beating the previous record of 1028 against Afghanistan last year.
2. Two concussion substitutes used in the same innings
Bangladesh’s troubles with the bat were further exacerbated when Liton Das & Nayeem Hasan were forced off the field after being struck on the helmet.
Since the introduction of the concussion substitute rule, four of the five players who were replaced had been facing India’s bowlers at the time of the blow- another indication of how threatening the Men in Blue’s pacers have become over the last couple of years.
The Indian selectors on Thursday officially announced the ODI and T20I squads for their upcoming series against the West Indies at home next month.
Shivam Dube’s fine performance in the T20 decider against Bangladesh has earned him a maiden ODI call up, but Sanju Samson has bizarrely been axed despite not featuring in even a single game against the Tigers. Samson and Dube were the only two new call ups to the squad when India squared off against their neighbours last month.
How different are India’s ODI and T20 squads?
Interestingly, India’s ODI and T20 squads for the West Indies series are virtually identical. Fourteen of the fifteen players named feature in both squads- the only difference comes in the form of Kedar Jadhav (ODI’s) and Washington Sundar (T20’s). This is almost a full strength T20 squad for the Men in Blue- perhaps an indication of how highly regarded the Windies are regarded in that format.
India’s pace battery again came to the party as the hosts annihilated Bangladesh by an innings and 130 runs in the first Test at Indore. With this win- achieved within less than three days, Indian skipper Virat Kohli overtook Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the captain with most innings victories in the country’s history.
Here are our talking points from the first test.
1.Mayank Agarwal’s rich vein of form with the bat continues
Mayank Agarwal’s dream run with the bat continued as he notched up yet another test double hundred. His 243 was more than what the entire Bangladesh team achieved in their two innings (150 and 213)
Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli fell cheaply, but Agarwal ground Bangladesh’s bowlers into the dust with his double century. He was particularly severe on both Mehidy Hassan and Taijul Islam, and reached his 200 in Sehwag-esque fashion by smashing Mehidy into the stands.
In each of their four home tests this season, India have managed at least one double centurion- a key factor in their success.
2. Three consecutive wins by an innings for the Men in Blue
India continued from they had left off against South Africa by completing yet another innings victory here against Bangladesh. This Indore win means they have now won three successive tests by an innings for the first time since 1993/94. They are not just beating their opponents but mercilessly trampling all over them.
3. Bangladesh batsmen no match for India’s bowlers
Bangladesh batsmen came a cropper against India’s fiery pace attack. The trio of Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami wreaked havoc in both the innings as the visitors crumbled in the face of some accurate bowling.
Apart from Mushfiqur Rahim and to an extent Liton Das, all the other Bangladesh batsmen struggled to get going. Despite skipper Mominul Haque winning the toss, (something Faf Du Plessis was unable to do for South Africa on their entire tour) the Tigers slumped to a heavy defeat.
Some very, very nice shots being played here by Liton Das. Fantastic timing- the type of stroke play that attracts neutrals. Clearly has the talent- hopefully will get the coaching that can make him more consistent #INDvBAN #sscricket
— thecricketblog (@thecricblogger) November 16, 2019
Continue reading “Five Talking Points from India vs Bangladesh First Test Indore November 16 2019”
Deepak Chahar registered the best ever figures by a bowler in T20 internationals as India beat Bangladesh by 30 runs to clinch the three match series 2-1 at Nagpur on Sunday. Chahar also took a hat trick, which means Indian bowlers have achieved that feat in all three formats of the game (Shami against Afghanistan in the ODI World Cup and Bumrah against the West Indies in the 2nd test on India’s tour of the Caribbean) this year- quite a remarkable achievement.
The Tigers lost wickets in clusters (12/1 and 12/2, 110/3 and 110/4, 126/5 and 126/6, 144/9 and 144/10) and couldn’t quite capitalize on the platform given to them by opener Mohammad Naim’s splendid 48 ball 81. Continue reading “Five Talking Points from India vs Bangladesh 3rd T20 Nagpur November 10 2019”
A masterful 85 from Indian skipper Rohit Sharma in his 100th T20 international saw India thrash Bangladesh by 8 wickets and level the three match series in Rajkot on Thursday. There were fears that this game might be washed out by the cyclone near the Gujarat coast, but thankfully for both the fans and the players, the rain stayed away, and we had an uninterrupted evening of play.
Here are our talking points from yesterday’s fixture.
1 Bangladesh’s batsmen fail to kick on
Four of Bangladesh’s top five batsmen scored 29 or more- all at better than a run a ball, but were unable to convert their starts into something big. The pitch was a good one for batting, with 170 being the par score in IPL games at the venue, but the Tigers were only able to make 153 on it.
2 Another eventful day for Rishabh Pant
Pant thought he had Liton Das stumped early in the latter’s innings, but he had collected the balls in front of the stumps, which made the third umpire disallow the stumping. Das was then given another reprieve when Rohit Sharma dropped a skier. He was eventually dismissed in a bizarre manner, going for a non-existent single without noticing that the ball had fallen just in front of him. Continue reading “Five Talking Points from India vs Bangladesh 2nd T20 Rajkot 2019 November 7”
