India vs Bangladesh, Asia Cup: Shardul Thakur shines with three-fer, Tilak Varma, SKY flop with bat

India vs Bangladesh, Asia Cup: Shardul Thakur shines with three-fer, Tilak Varma, SKY flop with bat

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Sep 16, 2023 - 13:43
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India vs Bangladesh, Asia Cup: Shardul Thakur shines with three-fer, Tilak Varma, SKY flop with bat
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With their spot in the 2023 Asia Cup final already confirmed, India came into their last Super Four match, against Bangladesh, with an intention to test their bench strength.

With Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav rested, the team management decided to bring in Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami and Prasidh Krishna.

See photos: Bangladesh down India to end Asia Cup campaign on a high

However, not everything went according to plan as India eventually suffered a six-run defeat to Bangladesh, with the Tigers registering only their second win over the Men in Blue in an Asia Cup contest.

Although Bangladesh’s top three failed to fire, it was their skipper, Shakib Al Hasan (80) and Towhid Hridoy (54), who made the difference to help them post 265 on board.

Credit must also go to Mahedi Hasan (29*) and Tamzin Hasan Sakib (14*) for the way they batted under pressure as they forged an unbeaten 27-run stand for the ninth wicket.

In India’s reply, Shubman Gill (121) stood out among the rest, but even that was not enough for India to cross the finish line.

However, as mentioned earlier, this match did give the reserves of the squad an opportunity to perform, and while some of them shone, the others failed to live upto expectations. Let’s now take a quick look at how each of them fared:

Tilak Varma

For someone who had scored consistently in his debut T20I series, against West Indies in August, it may not have come as a surprise when young Tilak Varma was handed his ODI debut on Friday.

Tilak scored 173 runs from five T20Is against the West Indies, but he faced a different challenge altogether when he took on the Bangladesh pacers.

There was nothing much to acknowledge about the 20-year-old’s knock against Bangladesh on Friday.

Following the T20Is against West Indies, Tilak was picked by some to claim the number four spot in ODIs, but with Kohli not in the playing XI, Tilak batted at number three and succumbed to pressure.

During his brief period of stay at the crease, Tilak mostly took on Bangladesh debutant Tanzim Hasan Sakib. While Tilak did collect a boundary off the pacer in the third over, flicking through backward square leg, he would get dismissed just two balls later, misjudging the inswinging delivery from Tanzim as the ball hit the top of off-stump, thereby cleaning up Tilak for just five runs.

Suryakumar Yadav

It’s those sweep shots that can be Suryakumar’s biggest weapon, but at the same time, it can be his biggest setback.

On Friday, it was rather the latter that got him out as he failed to capitalise on the one golden chance he had received.

With low scores and a struggle for form, SKY had failed to become a regular for India in the ODIs. He hadn’t played a game of the Asia Cup so far, and maybe that lack of game time had something to do with his dismissal despite getting off to a decent start.

He began with a boundary that was swept through backward square leg in the 23rd over, and six overs later, he repeated that same shot, sweeping for yet another boundary.

So much so that he kept playing the sweep at regular intervals until he was dismissed by Shakib Al Hasan in the 33rd over.

Shakib unleashed a tossed up delivery on off-stump, Suryakumar took a calculated risk with the sweep shot but missed it as the ball clipped the leg stump. His innings ended with a 34-ball knock of 26, and a big innings was not meant to be.

Shardul Thakur

Among those who came in for the game, Shardul Thakur was pretty much someone who stood out.

Although Mohammed Shami was economically better, it was those crucial strikes from Shardul Thakur that helped him finish with figures of 3/65.

Take Shakib Al Hasan’s dismissal, for example. It was a short of a length ball, angling in, almost made Shakib play for it, but eventually took the bottom edge as the ball crashed into the leg stump.

That was the kind of form Shardul ‘Lord’ Thakur was in, and for him, it was all about striking at the right time.

Apart from Shakib, Shardul had removed Tanzid Hasan and Anamul Haque early on in the innings.

Mohammed Shami

Mohammed Shami was economically brilliant during his eight-over spell, with figures of 2/32 and finishing with an economy rate of four runs per over.

On Friday, it was his seam movement at regular intervals that kept Bangladesh’s run-rate in check during the initial phase of the game.

Shami, who was playing only his second match of the tournament, struck at both ends of the Bangladesh innings.

First, he cleaned up Litton Das with some seam movement. Litton was caught in two minds before he decided to play for it, but the ball nipped back in and eventually kissed the pad en route to crashing the off-stump.

And to dismiss Towhid Hridoy in the 42nd over, Shami delivered a short ball, and Towhid went for the pull shot, only to find Tilak at deep midwicket.

Had India restricted Bangladesh to a total below 250, Shami’s figures could have turned out to be match-winning.

Prasidh Krishna

He may not be a part of India’s squad for the ODI World Cup, but Prasidh Krishna certainly looks to be a part of the country’s next generation pacers.

Although he managed just one wicket in the nine-over spell, Prasidh gave away just three boundaries and was effective in the early phase of the game.

Prasidh’s only wicket came in the 48th over. Nasum Ahmed was looking in fine touch and was well set for a fifty, but it was a slower ball from Prasidh that did the trick.

It was a slower ball outside off from the 27-year-old, and Nasum looked to play the drive, only to get a bottom edge as the ball clipped leg stump.

Prasidh finished with figures of 1/43 from nine overs. While his bowling figures may not do justice, it was the way he piled the pressure on Bangladesh batters, and not giving away too many boundaries, that made him noticeable.

To wrap it up, Prasidh showcased that he can be a leader of the pack in the next generation of pace bowlers.

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