All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who returned to the team after a long gap of a year, proved his mettle with a haul of four wickets while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah further dismantled the Bangladeshi batting order
Dubai: After registering a comprehensive win against Pakistan, India went ahead and ensured that the roar of the Bangladeshi tigers was a mere mewl. India cruised to an eight-wicket victory at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium here on Friday in the Super Four stage of Asia Cup 2018.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who returned to the team after a long gap of a year, proved his mettle with a haul of four wickets while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah further dismantled the Bangladeshi batting order.
On the batting front, the “Men in Blue” had captain Rohit Sharma and his deputy Shikhar Dhawan put on a crucial partnership of 66 runs for the first wicket. All in all, India seemed to be in control of the game throughout.
Here are five key takeaways from the match
1. Variety of the Indian spin bowling arsenal
The unfortunate injury of all-rounder Hardik Pandya and resultant exit from the tournament paved way for the return of Jadeja to the team after away for about 442 days and the left-hander owned his return with splendid bowling figures of 4/29 from his 10 overs. Jadeja's return meant that the Indian side had a right-arm leg-spinner in Yuzvendra Chahal, a left-arm leg-spinner in Kuldeep Yadav and a right-arm off-spinner in Kedar Jadhav already and the inclusion of a left-arm orthodox spinner completed all the varieties possible in four spin bowlers.
2. Dot balls plaguing Bangladesh
The Indian bowling side ensured that they were a force to reckon with and Bangladeshi batsmen found it difficult to convert the deliveries to runs or even rotate the strike. Bangladesh’s innings of 173 runs from 295 balls included 191 dot balls which brings the dot ball percentage of their innings to 64.74. They were able to hit only 11 boundaries. Jadeja tied up Bangladesh batsmen with 43 dot balls while Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivered 41 dot balls.
3. Shikhar Dhawan’s catching record
Other than opening with a solid partnership, Dhawan set a new record with his fielding skills. He held on to four catches which is a record in a single innings for a non wicketkeeper in Asia Cup history. Dhawan's victims were Nazmul Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman.
4. Rohit Sharma and history
Cricket fans would remember well the World Cup 2015 encounter between the two neighbours. Sharma had scored only 73 runs in his first five matches against Bangladesh and then managed a stellar 137 in the World Cup. In yesterday's match, Sharma wrecked havoc on Shakib as he smacked the left-arm spinner for three sixes. His innings of 83 not out was his third half century in ODIs against Bangladesh.
5. Overpowering Bangladesh again
While Bangladesh have won a couple of games on their home turf which has fed the image that they are the underdogs who have overpowered India, at neutral venues the case has been anything but opposite. In nine matches played till date, India have defeated Bangladesh eight times. The only loss for India at a neutral venue was the famous defeat in the 2007 World Cup where Tamim Iqbal dazzled with the willow as Bangladesh registered a historic win in the West Indies. In terms of statistics for the Asia Cup, India have managed to dominate Bangladesh in all the 11 encounters played except one. India’s only loss to Bangladesh in the Asia Cup was in 2012 in Dhaka where the hosts managed to chase 290 runs. The game is best remembered for Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th international century.
Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.