Team India (Pic credit: BCCI) DUBAI: Slow, lethal spin could well be the order of the day when India face Bangladesh in their second Super-4 clash on Wednesday. On paper, India are runaway favourites — 17 wins to Bangladesh’s solitary success tell the story. Add to that the ruthless way Suryakumar Yadav’s men dismantled opponents and the odds of a Bangladesh upset look slimmer than snowflakes in the Emirates.But cricket isn’t played on paper, and Phil Simmons wants his players to believe exactly that. The former West Indies batting allrounder and now Bangladesh head coach threw down the gauntlet on the eve of the clash.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!“Every team has the ability to beat India. The game is played on the day. It’s not what India did before — it’s what happens on Wednesday, during that three-and-a-half-hour period. We will try to play as best as we can and hope to force mistakes in India’s armoury. That’s the way we win games,†Simmons told reporters.Bangladesh though have a headache as their skipper Litton Das looks doubtful for the match as he suffered a sidestrain during training. They have not nominated a vicecaptain for the tournament.
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Both teams come armed with quality slow bowling. India’s trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, and Axar Patel will look to squeeze Bangladesh in the middle overs, while Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, and leggie Rishad Hossain — if picked — could be the Tigers’ trump cards.Interestingly, Bangladesh got the better of a strong Sri Lankan side by relying on their three quicks — Shoriful Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, and the wily Mustafizur Rahman.Mustafizur, with years of experience behind him, can control the game in the middle overs, as he showed against Sri Lanka. The leftarm seamer picked up a brilliant 4 for 20 in that match. Mahedi was the other standout performer, returning figures of 2 for 25.India might be winning — but they aren’t flawless. Their catching against Pakistan was all over the place, with four straightforward chances put down — lapses that could have been costly against a sharper opponent.
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Suryakumar knows Bangladesh can’t be offered similar charity. “We have done a lot of fielding practice. It can’t be an excuse. If the catches are gone, they are gone. We go back to the drawing board, do a good session again, and then we come back and play the game,†Surya said after the Pakistan match.Another talking point is Jasprit Bumrah’s returns. The spearhead has leaked 33 runs from his third over across the last three games and went wicketless against Pakistan, conceding 45 from four overs — his third-most expensive T20I outing.Surya may have to rethink frontloading Bumrah’s overs, perhaps holding one back for the middle overs and one at the death. Surya, however, maintained that Bumrah is far from struggling. “Not really. He has played a lot of T20 cricket for India and in the IPL. He is experienced enough to understand what is needed from him. He is a good learner. When he is on the field, he is always active, always has that lovely body language, spreads that positive energy. That’s what we want — a senior bowler coming into such games and delivering for the side,†he said.If there is one area where India look near-invincible, it is their batting. Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill shredded Pakistan’s attack with a sterling 105-run opening stand, and the rest of the batting order has adapted well to the conditions.India will want to keep the momentum rolling as the tournament heads into its business end, while the Tigers come into the clash with their tails up. With the Dubai International Stadium pitch easing out and chasing sides enjoying success, expect fireworks under the lights — and a stern test of whether India can stay flawless when it matters most.
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