Bangladesh suffer 95-run defeat to India in World Cup warm-up

The spinners failed to make an impact. The batsmen did not show the intent to chase down a 350-plus target. The only positive Bangladesh can take from their final warm-up game before the World Cup begins is the bowling by the pacers early in the innings.

Cricket Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 28 May 2019, 06:51 PM
Updated : 28 May 2019, 08:23 PM

The Tigers are going to the World Cup with a 95-run loss at the hands of India after centuries by MS Dhoni and KL Rahul set the huge target at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Tuesday.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz was the last man out in the final over of the match after a 27-ball 30 that ensured his side’s defeat by a margin less than 100 runs.

With Tamim Iqbal left out, opener Liton Das contributed 73 off 90 in Bangladesh’s 264 while his partner Soumya Sarkar, after a steady start by the duo, was the first to go in the 10th over bowled by Jasprit Bumrah.

Soumya was caught behind for 25 off 29 and then Shakib Al Hasan perished to a perfect yorker for a first-ball duck. The Tigers were rattled early.

Liton also became the first victim of another back-to-back double strike in the 32nd over by Yuzvendra Chahal, after a 120-run partnership with Mushfiqur Rahim.

The stand for the third wicket put up some resistance but they failed to step up the scoring rate against India's wrist spinning duo of Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in the middle overs.

When Chahal trapped Mohammad Mithun lbw for his second scalp, Bangladesh went from 169-2 to 216-8.

Both Chahal and Yadav finished with three wickets each, with the latter taking the ones of experienced Mushfiqur, who missed a century by 10 runs, and Mahmudullah (9 off 12).

With the match clearly slipping out of their hand after Yadav bowled Mushfiqur in the 40th over, the task of reducing the margin was then vested upon Mosaddek Hossain, the youngster who frustrated fans by getting stumped in the first ball in the other twin hit for India.

Sabbir Rahman could manage 9 off 12 before being bowled by slow left-arm orthodox Ravindra Jadeja.

Bangladesh’s headache over the new ball should ease with tight first spells of Captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Saifuddin, and Rubel Hossain.

Captain Virat Kohli (47 off 46) appeared nervous initially, but later steadied the innings with Rohit Sharma after Mustafizur produced swing to trap Shikhar Dhawan in front.

Rohit dragged Rubel Hossain’s delivery onto the stumps just when the pair started getting set on the wicket.

Mohammad Saifuddin then yorked Kohli, while Rubel took Vijay Shankar out.

The pacers raised the possibility of India looking at a below par total as they lost four wickets with 102 on board in 22 overs.

But Dhoni joined Rahul and together, they launched a counterattack to take their team out of trouble with big hits when Bangladesh brought the spinners into the attack. Dhoni hit two sixes off Miraz after Rahul had hit Shakib for as many.

For India, Rahul staked his claim for the No 4 spot with a sparkling 108 off 99. They got a boost in the shape of another timely and much needed clinical show by former captain Dhoni, who reached his stellar hundred off 73 balls and went on to score 113 before giving his wicket away to left-arm spinner Shakib in the final over.

BRIEF SCORES: India 359/7 in 50 overs (MS Dhoni 113, Lokesh Rahul 108; Rubel Hossain 2-62, Shakib Al Hasan 2-58) beat Bangladesh 264 in 49.3 overs (Mushfiqur Rahim 90, Liton Das 73; Kuldeep Yadav 3-47, Yuzvendra Chahal 3-55, Jasprit Bumrah 2-25) by 95 runs.