Mumbai: In India’s first home T20I, a hundred days from the World Cup triumph in Barbados, Arshdeep Singh took only four deliveries to force Litton Das into an ungainly stroke. Shaping to hit over mid-wicket, the left-armer’s angle caught the top-edge and was lapped up by Rinku Singh at short cover.
Only three of India’s playing eleven from Barbados were in action on the international debut of Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium in Gwalior on Sunday. Also making their debuts were India’s Mayank Yadav and Nitish Kumar Reddy. India under new skipper Suryakumar Yadav were spreading the net wide, looking for the infusion of fresh talent. In effect, an assembly of an all-star India emerging IPL eleven did the job impressively in the first T20I against Bangladesh with a convincing seven-wicket win.
Almost all the batters picked could also bowl. Six of them did bowl in the first 11 overs as India tried a variety of combinations. Hardik Pandya partnered Arshdeep with the new ball. Varun Chakravarty bowled inside the powerplay.
Bangladesh had a quiet powerplay, being 39/2. But they were rocked in the middle overs with the most searching questions asked by Chakravarthy’s mystery spin. Returning to international cricket after three years, he was greeted with a 15-run over. But the Tamil Nadu bowler came back strongly to get Towhid Hridoy (12) to hole out in the deep. Jaker Ali (8) was beaten to be bowled through the gate. He also cut short Rishad Hossein’s (11) cameo to finish with figures of 4-0-31-3.
Discarded by the national selectors after a poor 2021 T20 World Cup, labelled as suited only for franchise cricket, Chakravarthy will have to thank Gautam Gambhir for believing in his unique bowling skills. The Kolkata Knight Riders spinner did not let down the head coach.
Washington Sundar came into the attack much later than usual and immediately got one to hold on the pitch to dismiss Bangladesh captain Najmul Shanto (27) caught and bowled.
But all eyes were on Mayank Yadav and the speed gun.
The Delhi speedster didn’t quite hit the 150 kph mark but hit the road like a well-oiled machine. Consistently clocking over 140 kph on what wasn’t the quickest of tracks, he began with a maiden over on his return after a long injury rehabilitation. In his second over, Yadav’s reputation appeared to play a role in Mahmudullah backing away while attempting a lofted cover drive, only to find the waiting fielder at deep point.
Unlike his IPL spells where he was mostly short of length and bowled at extreme speeds, Yadav appeared to have conditioned himself for greater control, even showing off a newly developed slower ball. In his 4-1-21-1, India will take heart. They would now want to see if he can bowl his full quota in the entire series and remain injury free.
The Bangladesh innings never found momentum as they were bowled out for 127 in the second last ball of the innings, Arshdeep bowling the final over to finish with 3.5-0-14-3.
Openers fire
India’s response showed how far short Bangladesh may have been. India’s openers began as if they were racing merrily on the highway with plenty of boundaries coming off the blade of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson. Abhishek’s (16 – 7b) free run was cut short by a run out. Soon enough, captain Suryakumar Yadav began his set of fireworks, targeting his favoured fine leg region. Running away with the match, he finally holed out to deep square on 29 (14b). By then, India were already halfway towards the target inside the powerplay.
Samson, in with a chance to make a late dash in international cricket, had begun well by driving smoothly through the offside when the field was up. Just when Samson was settling in to play an innings that would see the team through, he lost his shape while trying to clear Mehidy Miraz. When he was taking the long walk back to the pavilion on 29 (19b), a cry of anguish showed his level of disappointment.
From that moment, all-rounders Hardik and Reddy took control of the proceedings. Not by cantering for singles but by freeing their arms with a flurry of sixes and in some style. Hardik 39* (16b) closed out the match by swatting Taskin Ahmed over mid-wicket to bring up the win in 11.5 overs.
