Who would be interested in a hastily-organised, meaningless bilateral ODI series taking place in the shadow of the football World Cup, that too with several of the game’s biggest stars being rested. Judging from the vast swathes of empty stands in the usually packed Mirpur stadium, and the struggles to get a television broadcaster in India, not many. Those who did tune in today though caught one of those gobsmacking, prediction-defying results that make sport captivating to watch.
Two days ago, Bangladesh posted 272 in Mirpur and their captain had felt that had not been sufficient. Today, at the same ground. India were knocked over for 105, but that not only proved sufficient, it was 47 too many for Bangladesh. Pacy teenage debutant Taskin Ahmed was the star of the first half of the game, with a five-for that kept India to their lowest total against Bangladesh, but that faded into insignificance as Stuart Binny conjured figures of 6 for 4 to extend home side’s losing streak to nine.
On a track with plenty of juice, spiced up further by a rain burst that interrupted play for two-and-a-half hours, the quicks thoroughly enjoyed themselves. This is not a stadium which is usually favourable to them, but today the pitch was as helpful as an early-summer Headingley surface, with spiteful deliveries being served up with alarming regularity.
The batsmen found how testing the conditions would be on the first two balls of the game itself as Mashrafe Mortaza nearly had both India openers lbw, though the appeal against Robin Uthappa was turned down. It didn’t get any easier over the course of the game, and no batsman looked comfortable in the middle, though hardly any of them showed the necessary resolve to grind through their way through tough patches.
After Taskin’s burst, Bangladesh seemed set for victory as they survived some nervy moments to get to 39 for 2. Enter Binny, whose gentle medium-pace – which was granted only one over by MS Dhoni on Binny’s debut – turned into vicious, unplayable swing. He had Mithun Ali beaten twice in his first over, before the torrent of wickets began that transformed the day into the highlight of his career.
Mushfiqur Rahim edged to the keeper down the leg side in his second over, and the other settled batsman Ali flicked a catch to square leg in his third. One ball late, Mahmudullah tried an expansive drive away from his body to be caught at gully. At 52 for 5 in the 14th over, Bangladesh nerves began to jangle.
At the other end, Mohit Sharma struck twice in the 15th, first with a ripsnorter that reared and swerved away to send back Bangladesh’s best batsman Shakib Al Hasan, and later when Ziaur Rahman’s attempted slog that only reached as far as the fielder at square leg. The four wickets in eight balls had virtually killed off the chase. It took Binny a couple more overs to finish off the game, and upgrade his figures to the best by an Indian in ODIs.
Briefly, Taskin had a chance of getting the best bowling by a Bangladeshi in ODIs. He had to settle for third on that list, but the performance justified the hype that heralded his arrival to the one-day stage. He showed off his confidence by banging in a bouncer on his first ball in ODI cricket. Another short ball got rid of the in-form Uthappa, who top-edged a pull to mid-off for 14, and he had Ambati Rayudu lbw in his next over. A delighted Taskin chest-bumped Mashrafe in celebration as India wobbled at 28 for 3.
Both bowlers were getting the ball to swerve around dramatically, but neither were tempted to experiment too much by the juice in the surface as they served up plenty of spiteful deliveries. If India could have chosen two men to counter the situation, they would have backed the technically correct Cheteshwar Pujara and the vastly experienced Suresh Raina. Pujara was watchful, surviving some nervy moments early, while Raina was more aggressive as Bangladesh’s quicks dropped it too short against him.
Just when Pujara seemed to be settling down, Taskin got one to jag past Pujara’s defence to get him lbw. Wriddhiman Saha then joined the list of batsmen today to be lbw attempting to play the ball in the region of midwicket. Raina had been the most impressive of India’s batsmen, but he was run out after a uncharacteristically lacklustre attempt at a second. That dismissal came on Stuart Binny’s first ball and left India at 66 for 6 in the 17th over.
There were still 24 overs to go, but India’s lower-order didn’t show the cricketing nous to stick around, especially with the rain clouds hovering. India lost their two allrounders cheaply: Akshar Patel was bowled after hitting two of his five deliveries for boundaries and Binny nicked a wide one to the keeper. The tailenders swung their bat around and managed to get India to triple digits, before Binny produced the performance that this low-profile series is likely to be remembered by.
