In their second Super 8 win on the trot, India posted a comprehensive 50-run win over Bangladesh in Antigua on Saturday. With this, Rohit Sharma & co are one step closer to the semi-finals. They will face Australia in their last Super 8 encounter on June 24.
Bangladesh won the toss and invited India to bat first. It was exactly what Rohit Sharma wanted as he said after the toss ceremony. India started off well. Both Sharma and Virat Kohli gave some sizzling shots. But soon, Bangladesh bowlers took control and India lost wickets in quick succession.
Despite India’s top order not scoring a fifty, the Men in Blue got the mega total of 196/8 thanks to Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube’s fifth wicket stand and some fearless batting by Rishabh Pant. Pandya also scored a half-century off 27 balls.
In reply, Bangladesh did start well but as soon as Pandya took out Litton Das, they never really recovered. Kuldeep Yadav was particularly impressive (3/19) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/13) and Arshdeep Singh (2/30) remained as consistent as ever.
At the moment, India are topping the Super 8 charts. If we look at India’s campaign so far, the Men in Blue remain undefeated. Many netizens are drawing similarities with what happened to India during the ICC ODI World Cup last year.
If Afghanistan beats Australia in their next match, and Australia then defeats India, followed by Afghanistan winning against Bangladesh, three teams will each have four points. The Net Run Rate (NRR) will then determine the top two teams in the group. Consequently, India has not yet secured a spot in the semifinals. At the moment, India has 4 points on the back of two wins with an NRR of +2.425.
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