T20 WC 2022, Gr 2, IND v BAN: India prevail in close game; Gr 2 still has at least 4 SF contenders

ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022, Super 12, Group 2, India vs Bangladesh: Virat Kohli's 64, Litton Das' 60 and Shakib Al Hasan's 2-33 are top performances. India beat Bangladesh by 5 runs (D/L method) and move to first spot in points table.Virat Kohli becomes the leading run-scorer in T20 World Cup with 1065 runs.

Kohli becomes the leading run-scorer in T20 World Cup (Source: ©AFP/Getty Images)

Brief Scores: India 184/6 (Kohli 64*, Rahul 50, Shakib 2/33) beat Bangladesh 145/6 (Target: 151 in 16 ov) (Litton 60, Nurul 25*, Hardik 2/28) by 5 runs (D/L method)

Player of the Match: Virat Kohli - 64*(44)

India who after back-to-back victories against Pakistan and Netherlands, lost against South Africa in their last game, locked horns with Bangladesh who have kept themselves in a good position in this tournament thanks to their electrifying win over Zimbabwe. The 11th Group 2 game of the Super 12 stage of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 was held at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide on Wednesday.

India who have an upper hand with a 10-1 victory margin over Bangladesh in this format; they have also won all the three T20 World Cup encounters against their neighbours, the last of which was a dramatic one-run win in Bengaluru in the 2016 edition.

KL Rahul returns to form as India bowlers leaked runs

India opener KL Rahul hadn’t been in good form in the last few games with personal scores of 4, 9 and 9 in his three appearances prior to this game. He struggled early on against Bangladesh as well, before smacking few great boundaries and sixes to return to form with a fabulous 32-ball 50.

On the flipside of the coin, India bowlers leaked many runs at the start defending a huge score of 185 as Bangladesh reached 60/0 in the powerplay. The rain helped in breaking Bangladesh’s momentum, but even when 31 runs were required in 12 balls with six wickets down, India bowlers looked to be under pressure. Eventually, they held their nerves to earn a vital victory.

Read More: KL Rahul’s form: Is it governed by ‘Law of Diminishing Returns’ on the big stage?

KL Rahul gave India good start with 50 off 32 balls (Source: ©Associated Press)

India bowlers held their nerves to register important victory

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan on winning the toss opted to bowl first under overcast conditions. While Axar Patel returned to the side in place of Deepak Hooda for India, Bangladesh decided to include left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam in the playing eleven leaving Soumya Sarkar out.

Put in to bat first, India again struggled in the powerplay to reach 37/1 at the end of 6 overs, before KL Rahul’s half-century took them to 86/2 at the half-way mark. Suryakumar Yadav, coming for a short span of time, offered India the vital firepower with his 16-ball 30, before Virat Kohli with a few lusty blows at the end (64 in 44) carried India to 184/6 in their allotted 20 overs.

Bangladesh began in an expressive way with 66/0 in seven overs, before rain arrived as the target was reduced to 151 runs in 16 overs according to Duckworth/Lewis Method. Bangladesh kept on losing wickets at regular intervals as India tightened their grip on the game. Even with 31 runs needed from 12 balls, Nurul Hasan and Taskin Ahmed were smacking the balls in all directions, but Arshdeep Singh, the joint highest-wicket taker (9) along with England’s Sam Curran in the Super 12 stage, carried India over the line by 5 runs.

Let’s take a look at the top three performances from the game between India and Bangladesh from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Rahul-Kohli added 67 off 37 balls for 2nd wicket (Source: ©AFP/Getty Images)

In-form Kohli carries India till the end with his splendid unbeaten 64

For the third consecutive time in T20 World Cup 2022, India struggled in the beginning to score quick runs and when the in-form Virat Kohli, who has already saved them in two of the three games in this competition, walked into the middle, India were limping at 11/1 in the fourth over.

Kohli began with two beautiful boundaries against Taskin Ahmed; the first four was drilled over the cover fielder while the second one sailed over the slip fielder. He smartly opened the bat face to get another boundary against Mustafizur Rahman through the slip cordon.

With KL Rahul changing colours to celebrate his much welcome half-century, Kohli began to provide him most of the strike. After the dismissal of both Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav, Kohli pressed the accelerator pedal. He punched Mustafizur through mid-on, before smacking the same bowler over mid-wicket for another boundary.

Virat Kohli soon, with couple of runs, completed his 36th T20I fifty, his third in this competition in just 38 balls. He smashed Hasan Mahmud over square leg for a boundary before clearing long-on for a huge maximum as India reached 184/6 in their allotted 20 overs.

Kohli who remained on an unbeaten 64 runs in 44 balls with eight boundaries and one six, now has 3932 T20I runs in 113 games. Also, he is currently the highest run-scorer of this tournament with 220 runs in 4 innings at a great strike rate of 144.73. The next in the list is Netherlands’ Max O’Dowd with 213 runs in 7 innings.

In this innings, Virat Kohli also became the leading run-scorer in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup with 1065 runs, going past Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene (1016 runs).

Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, Gr 2, IND v SA: Parnell-Ngidi's combined 7-44 hurts India; SA leapfrog to no 1

Litton's 60 off 27 went in vain as India beat Bangladesh (Source: ©AFP/Getty Images)

Litton Das lit up the chase with an entertaining 60(27)

Chasing a huge target of 185 in 20 overs, Bangladesh required their openers to provide them a good platform in the opening department as Litton Das began the innings along with Najmul Hossain Shanto, in the absence of Soumya Sarkar.

Das, on his second ball opened the bat face to collect his first boundary before creaming Arshdeep Singh straight down the ground for the same result. Litton Das finished the over with another boundary which was crunched wide of the covers region. In the very next over, he smashed Bhuvneshwar Kumar over deep square leg for a six, before clearing the mid-off fielder for another boundary; he smacked Bhuvneshwar for another boundary smartly past third man before pulling Mohammed Shami for a six.

With another boundary over extra cover, Litton Das notched up his seventh T20I fifty in just 21 balls - the second-fastest for Bangladesh in this format and in the T20 World Cup 2022. When rain arrived, Litton Das was on 59 in just 26 balls.

Two balls after the game restarted, Litton Das was run out by an excellent throw from KL Rahul for a personal score of 60 in just 27 balls that was arranged with seven boundaries and three sixes at a strike rate of 222.22. He now has 1378 T20I runs in 64 games for Bangladesh.

Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, Gr 2, IND v NED: SKY’s 51*, Kohli’s 62* drive India to 2nd win & top of Group 2

Shakib took 2-33 against India at Adelaide (Source: ©AFP/Getty Images)

Shakib made valuable contribution with 2/33

Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh captain, stunned the cricketing world with his statement that Bangladesh hadn’t come to this T20 World Cup 2022 eyeing to win the trophy.

In his second over which was the 10th over of the first innings just when KL Rahul began to smash the ball, Shakib sent the India opener back for 50 with a short ball, as Rahul pulled to see the ball balloon up before ending in the hands of the short fine leg fielder.

Coming into his last over, Shakib picked up another vital wicket of Suryakumar Yadav (30) with a lovely angled delivery as SKY in trying to cut the ball saw the off-stump pegged back. Shakib Al Hasan, who is the highest wicket-taker in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup history with 46 scalps in 34 innings, ended with 2/33 in his four overs. Shakib now has 127 T20I wickets in 108 games at an economy of under seven.

Read More: Melbourne Madness: Saga of that Haris Rauf over & those two Virat sixes

ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 Group 2 Points Table

Group 2 Points Table

Points Table Scenario & What’s Next

With this win, India powered themselves to the top of Group 2 and are one step closer to the semi-final stage; the berth is still unconfirmed though as there still are at least 4 possible contenders for the knock out stage. India have 6 points in 4 games at a net run rate (NRR) of 0.730. Bangladesh, on the other hand, stay on number three with 4 points in 4 games at a NRR of -1.276.

On November 6 which is also the last day of the league stage of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, Bangladesh will lock horns with Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide, while India will meet Zimbabwe at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne later in the evening.

Pakistan meet South Africa in the 12th Group 2 game of the World Cup at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in Sydney on November 3. The result of this game will help clear a lot of riddles as regards which teams do make it to the knock out stage of the mega event.

Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, Group 2, IND vs PAK: Kohli's unbelievable 82* bamboozles Pakistan; India win

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