Cricket

Bangladesh vs. India Second ODI: Little Brother Pulls Off Last Gasp Thriller Again

Bangladesh vs. India Second ODI: Little Brother Pulls Off Last Gasp Thriller Again

It’s time to face it: Bangladesh are having an incredible year of One-Day International cricket.

In 2022, they’ve played 14 ODI games and won 10 of them. Of the five series they’ve contested, Bangladesh have come out victorious in four of them—including an away series win against South Africa, an away white wash against the West Indies, and now a home series win against India. The only blip on Bangladesh’s calendar is a 1-2 away defeat to Zimbabwe, which can be excused for occuring in the shadow of the T20 World Cup 2022.

What’s more impressive than the results Bangladesh have posted, is the manner in which they’ve won some of their games—and none more so than yesterday’s win over India.

Bangladesh Find Themselves in Deep Hole in Second ODI

Fans could be excused for accepting that Bangladesh were going to slip to a comprehensive defeat in yesterday’s second ODI.

Opting to bat first, the home side stuttered and spluttered, finding themselves at 69/6 after 19 overs. Very, very few teams win from this position. In fact, only five sides in the history of ODI cricket have gone on to add an additional 200 runs to their total after being six wickets down. Considering that the almost impossible was required for Bangladesh to simply reach a par score, it seemed this match was over.

And yet, Bangladesh did exactly that. Mahmudullah, the men in green’s perennial rescue man, combined with his apparent successor, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, to put on 148 for the eighth wicket. Miraz then stuck around and accelerated, striking his maiden century off the inning’s final ball at a strike rate of 120.48.

It’s hard to emphasise enough how much mettle it takes to construct an innings like this. To go from 69/6 to 271/7 is obscene, and 19 times out of 20, teams would slip to being all-out for under 150. This Bangladeshi side showed not only batting prowess, but real character.

India Falter, Then Threaten

In reply, India appeared to be going away softly. Big players Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Washington Sundar and KL Rahul all got out cheaply, leaving India limping at 65/4 after 18.3 overs. Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel then rebuilt, but the rate was slow, and when both established batsmen got out by the 39th over with the better part of 100 runs remaining to be scored, victory seemed a tall ask for India.

However, Rohit Sharma had something to say about that. India’s captain had opted not to bat due to a thumb injury. But when his side were eight wickets down with the equation reading 59 runs required off 28 balls, captain fantastic decided it was time to take the bull by the horns and come out swinging. Mohammed Siraj made the equation even tougher by seeing out 10 dot balls at the death, meaning that every ball Sharma faced needed to go to the boundary.

Rohit SharmaAnd they nearly did. Sharma, with an injured thumb, struck 20 runs off the penultimate over. He then accrued a further three boundaries in the 20th over, including a six when the equation read 12 off 2. However, with another maximum needed off the final ball, Sharma’s invincibility ran dry, and the captain was unable to see the delivery over the rope.

Third Bangladesh vs India ODI Awaits on Saturday

There’s no such thing as a dead rubber between these regional rivals.

This Saturday the third and final ODI will play out between Bangladesh and India. With the series already wrapped up in favour of the home side, India are playing purely for pride. Bangladesh, meanwhile, will relish a rare chance to whitewash their big brothers, and gain some valuable momentum heading into next week’s Test series.

Surprisingly, bookies still have India as moderate favourites heading into the third ODI. Odds are 4/11 (1.36) for an Indian win, against 21/10 (3.10) for Bangladesh to pull off the whitewash. A cheeky punt for the hosts might not go amiss here with a 2 to 1 return.


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