Asia Cup 2018: Ravindra Jadeja tops report card on ODI return; Mustafizur Rahman, Ambati Rayudu disappoint

On the first day of the Super Four encounter, Bangladesh succumbed to India by a whopping seven wicket margin to give the Rohit Sharma-led unit a NRR of 1.33 after the first match. Inspired by Ravindra Jadeja’s Man of the Match winning performance on ODI return, India skittled out the Tigers for 173 and made light work of the run chase courtesy another half-century from their stand-in skipper. Here we bring to you the team report cards. 10/10 Ravindra Jadeja [caption id=“attachment_5238371” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Ravindra Jadeja returned to India’s ODI side after a gap of one and half years. AP[/caption] Returning to the ODI fold seemed impossible at one stage for the Saurashtra all-rounder but an impressive performance in the final Test of the series in England seems to have helped him get into the good books of the selectors. Returning to the ODI team after a year and a half, Jadeja impressed with a terrific, stingy spell of 4/29 that included the wickets of Shakib, Rahim, Mithun and Mossadek Hossain. Rohit Sharma Carrying on his scintillating touch from the previous game against Pakistan was Rohit Sharma who settled down to play a composed innings to take India home in a fairly easy run chase. He played second-fiddle to a rampant Dhawan at the start before slowly coming into his own later in the innings. Crucially he remained unbeaten in the chase, showcasing the kind of maturity reminiscent of the absent Virat Kohli. Bhuvneshwar Kumar Like against Pakistan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was fired up from the word go and sent back Liton Das to draw first blood for India. The seamer proceeded to bowl an immaculate 10-over spell that included two further wickets in the death overs. Bhuvneshwar finding form was crucial for India especially after he appeared rusty in the opening game against Hong Kong. Jasprit Bumrah Like Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah hit his straps early on, removing Hossain Shanto to leave Bangladesh reeling at 16/2. The Mumbai Indians seamer was brilliant in his opening four over burst that gave away just 17 runs. With Bangladesh staging a mini fightback in the death overs, Bumrah returned to seal the innings with the wicket of Mehidy Hasan who was rallying together the tail. 9/10 Mehidy Hasan Miraz The off-spinning all-rounder lifted the gloom around Bangladesh dressing room with a fighting 42 from lower down the order, combining with his skipper in a stand worth 66. Mehidy batted with positive intent and the confidence showed in his bowling when he came on to open the attack and finished with figures of 0/38 in 10 overs. 8/10 Shikhar Dhawan Dhawan continued to find form with the bat although for the second time in as many games he fell in the forties. The southpaw was in no mood to tolerate some ordinary bowling and dug into Mustafizur Rahman whom he milked for three fours and a six. The partnership worth 61, dominated by Dhawan, was broken by Shakib-al-Hasan when he trapped the opener in front. 7/10 Kuldeep Yadav If Jadeja was outstanding, the other left-arm spinner in the side and the one who replaced him after he was unceremoniously dumped from the limited-overs side, went wicketless in his quota of overs. Kuldeep, who has a terrific record in ODIs since the Champions Trophy, was tight with his lines and kept the batsmen on their back-foot with his variations but couldn’t buy a wicket. MS Dhoni Walking in at No 4, MS Dhoni made 33 at nearly run-a-ball, milking the bowlers and occupying the crease for some time. He was dismissed going for the glory shot late in the innings but showed enough to put his ring into the hat for the No 4 spot race. Dhoni seems like the apt guy for the role after years of being restricted to the lower middle-order. 6/10 Shakib-al-Hasan The southpaw had yet another unsuccessful day at No 3, walking in below the openers and starting off all guns blazing. He raced to 17 in 12 balls but threw it away with a wild shot off Jadeja. Shakib returned in the second essay to bowl his sharp left-arm spin but couldn’t make a huge impact although he managed to create the initial breakthrough for Bangladesh by trapping Dhawan in front. 5/10 Yuzvendra Chahal Chahal wasn’t scared to flight the ball and give the batsmen width to free their arms but went wicketless in a tidy spell where he leaked at just four an over. The leg-spinner kept the Bangladesh middle-order batsmen silent and proved to be the perfect foil for a pumped up Jadeja. Mashrafe Mortaza The Bangladesh skipper played a crucial role in giving the Tigers’ total a late push by combining in a 66-run stand with Mehidy Hasan. Mortaza, known to be a decent tail-ender, made up for some of the heedlessness of the top-order with his 32-ball 26. With the ball, he picked up a late wicket in the form of Dhoni but was otherwise innocuous. 4/10 Mahmudullah The man for pressure situations in the side, Mahmudullah appeared to once again be the guiding light in Bangladesh’s innings but it proved to be short-lived as he fell to Bhuvneshwar. The middle-order batsman struck at a strike rate less than 50 and failed to resuscitate the innings at a time his side needed him to fight on. Rubel Hossain Rubel Hossain came into the attack in the 22nd over of the innings after Mehidy Hasan had completed his quota of overs and Shakib had sent down more than half of his. The seamer made an instant impact by sending back Rayudu in his second over and appeared to among the better Bangladesh bowlers on display. Surprisingly, he was used lesser by Mashrafe Mortaza. 3/10 Mushfiqur Rahim A brilliant hundred in the opening game against Sri Lanka had set the tone for Rahim’s Asia Cup but against familiar foes, India, the wicket-keeper batsman struggled with his timing and hung around for 45 balls scoring at a strike rate less than 50 in the hope of resurrecting the innings. A pre-meditated reverse sweep against Jadeja brought an end to his tenuous innings. 2/10 Hossain Shanto Replacing someone of the stature of Tamim Iqbal can be intimidating for a youngster and Nazmul Hossain Shanto, all of 20 years old, has been pushed into the deep end against quality bowling attacks. He was undone by a terrific ball from Bumrah early on and will hope to improve his form before Tamim returns to the setup. Ambati Rayudu As with most batsmen in this game, Rayudu struggled to find his timing on a slow surface and scored just 13 in a 45-run partnership with Rohit. Newly anointed at No 3, Rayudu had started off well in the tournament with two good scores but failed to make an impact here. Mohammad Mithun Batting with Mushfiqur Rahim did wonders for Mithun in the opening game of the tournament but with the spinners all over Bangladesh in the middle overs, Mithun struggled to find his front foot game against Jadeja and co. His premeditated reverse sweep that went for four showed that the batsman was unable to guess the turn properly and Jadeja exploited this with a customary arm ball that trapped him in front. 1/10 Liton Das Liton Das has a forgettable record in limited-overs cricket which puts his recent failure pretty much in line with what was expected of him. An average of 6.80 while opening the batting in ODIs and a career average of 12.71 after 15 ODIs aren’t what you expect from your opening batsman. If Bangladesh haven’t run out of patience with him already, it may not take too long. Mossadek Hossain Coming in at 65/5, Mossadek struggled to find any kind of timing and ambled along to 12 consuming 43 balls in the process. He tried to take on Jadeja with an aggressive slog sweep and edged the spinner to the keeper to leave Bangladesh in dire straits. Mustafizur Rahman The wily Fizz had an off-day with the ball and it showed in the lack of energy amongst the Bangladesh bowling unit. Mustafizur sent down a wicketless seven-over spell where he leaked at close to six runs per over. Bangladesh needed him to step up after posting a below par total but the seamer had a disappointing day. *Kedar Jadhav and Dinesh Karthik weren’t rated owing to their minimal role in the match Rating chart: 10-9: Excellent, 8-7: Good, 6-5: Average, 4-3: Poor, 2-1: Very poor