India “A” Vs Bangladesh “A” first ODI Played at Bangalore on 16 September 2015 India A 322 /7 (SV Samson 73, Gurkeerat Singh 65, R Dhawan 56 *, MA Agarwal 56, Nasir Hossain 51/2 , Shafiul Islam 60/2) beat Bangladesh A 226 All out in 42.3 Overs ( Liton K Das 75, Nasir Hossain 52 ,Sabbir Rahman 25 ,Gurkeerat Singh 5/29 ,S Aravind 3/29)by 96 runs

India “A” cricket team made a cake walks against an underperforming Bangladesh “A” team delivering a crushing 96 runs defeat in the first of the three ODI matches series at Bangalore. The task of Bangladesh getting back into the series has now become challenging after such a huge defeat .Sent into bat first by Bangladesh India presented a huge target of 323 to win for Bangladesh top order collapsed against quality pace attack of R Dhawan and S Aravind. Off spinner Gurkerat ran then through late middle order and the tail with a dream spell of 5/29 .Bangladesh could reach 226 thanks to admirable batting efforts of Liton K Das (75) and Nasir Hossain (52). Bangladesh eventually lost by a huge margin of 96 runs with 45 deliveries to spare.

BCB has sent a very strong team for the series and expects a lot more from the side .If Tamim, Sakib, Mushfique and Mahmudullah are added this is the Bangladesh national team. Why this team failed to prove even competitive against India A will require a bit of brain storming. The bowling excepting at the initial stage appeared pretty ordinary and made hardly any impression. All bowlers leaked runs generously. Top order batting failed to cope with India “A” pace attack of Aravind and Dhawan and middle and late order collapsed to off spin of Gurkeerat Singh. Had not it been courageous batting and admirable partnership of Liton Das and Nasir Hossain it could be more embarrassing.

No one will question about the quality of Indian A team. They are in a great form off late. Most of their players are regular performers in domestic circuit. But at the same time all those appeared for Bangladesh in the match represented Bangladesh national team in different formats of international cricket. The teams were not mismatched in any case. Indian late middle order delivered and took the match away from Bangladesh while Bangladesh top and late middle order collapsed to two different types of bowling pace and spin. When this happens the consequence is obvious. Bangladesh started the series with a massive defeat of 96 runs. Moreover, the bowling spearhead Taskin Ahmed with recurrence of side strain developed after only 5 overs will have leave for home .He will not even recover before the upcoming test series against Australia. Critics will question whether he was at all match fit to start with.

As far as India “A” is concerned it was a brilliant all round performance by Gurkeerat Rupinder Singh ofPunjab that played the major role in the impressive win. He followed up his enterprising 65 in 58 balls with a haul of 5/29 in 7.3 overs of right arm off spin. The ground for late order aggressive batting was created by Sanju Samson (73) and Myanak Agarwal (56).  Rishi Dhawan smashing 56 off only 34 balls first upset the rhyme of visitors bowling attack which at one stage could make inroads into Indian top order reducing them to 5/ 125 by 26 over .Samson and Gurkeeart steadied the rocking boat with a 102 runs 6 th wicket partnership . Sanju went on adding a further 78 with flamboyant Dhawan for the 7th wicket. Bangladesh bowlers failed to maintain line and length and were very generous in leaking runs. Taskin’s injury also did not help the cause. Rubel, Sunny looked very ordinary and made no impression at all. 322/7 is a very difficult target by any team on any wicket.

Bangladesh in its chase started disastrously .Soumya Sarkar, Anamul and Rony were quickly dispatched by left arm pacer Aravind .Skipper Mominul and Sabbir tried to resist .But both failed to Dhawan making it 5/87 by the 17 th over. Still quality counter attacking display by Liton Das and Nasir appeared to keep Bangladesh in the match. The pair put on priceless 120 in 120 deliveries regenerating the interest. But once Nasir left scoring 52 and Liton 75 it was impossible for the tail to cope with quality spin of Gurkeerat Singh. Bangladesh succumbed to 226 all out conceding a huge 96 runs defeat.

Injury to Taskin has a dealt a huge blow to Bangladesh not only in the current series but for immediate future. He is being replaced with Bappy .Bangladesh has to carry out few home works. It has to decide whether to play four virtual openers or play Shubhagato to strengthen late middle order batting. We were of the opinion that Bangladesh team lacked batting depth and experience in the middle order. That was sadly evidenced in the last match.Liton should bat in top order at number three for his better techniques and temperament if Mominul prefers batting at four in this team. Another point to ponder is whether to play three pacers or include Jubair in place of one pacer. We would suggest playing Al Amin resting Rubel to pair with Shafiul. Hope Bangladesh learns from mistakes of the first match and proves competitive in the remaining two ODIs. All is not lost yet.

BDST: 0909 HRS, SEP 17, 2015
AKA