 "India v Bangladesh: Mayank Yadav's positive first impression and more takeaways from first T20I")
There was hardly an element of surprise on Sunday when India took on Bangladesh in Sunday’s first T20I at Gwalior’s new Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium. The result was on expected lines — a nearly dominant India victory, by seven wickets to be precise. Now that we’re clearly well past the Rohit-Kohli-Jadeja era in T20Is, India’s roadmap is clear ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup — give the fringe and young players an opportunity.
As it happened | India vs Bangladesh 1st T20I
With the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal rested, this is the ideal series for such players to take centre-stage and shine. Mayank Yadav and Nitish Kumar Reddy made their much-awaited T20I debuts, and there was also an audition for batters at the top-order. Let’s now take a look at some key takeaways from the first T20I:
Mayank Yadav returns to competitive cricket, and shows promise
Sunday was not just about a senior India debut for young pacer Mayank Yadav. It was also about his return to competitive cricket for the first time in six months. Mayank was impressive in his four matches for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in IPL earlier this year, but an abdominal injury ruled him out for the remainder of the season. However, he had shown promise in just those four matches, and there were calls for his inclusion to the national team squad.
The first of many to come 🤞😍
— JioHotstar Reality (@HotstarReality) October 6, 2024
Mayank Yadav picks up his first wicket in international cricket! 🙌#INDvBAN #JioCinemaSports #IDFCFirstBankT20ITrophy pic.twitter.com/iQcrGXxlOy
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIt wasn’t until last week when the 22 year-old received his maiden India call-up. On Sunday, he welcomed the opportunity with both hands and delivered an impressive performance in his international debut. During the IPL, Mayank consistently bowled with speeds in excess of 150 kmph, and while he wasn’t quite able to replicate that kind of form on Sunday, the Delhi-born cricketer was still excellent.
He began with a maiden over, decimating Towhid Hridoy with a few short of length deliveries. In one of those balls, he even clocked 146 kph, and it wasn’t long until he got his maiden India wicket. It was a short of length ball to Mahmudullah, once again with a speed of 146 kph, and all the batter could do is get the toe-end of the bat and hole this one out to Washington Sundar at deep point.
Given his IPL standards, Mayank may not have been at his best just yet on Sunday, but he has already shown promise that he can be a lethal fast bowler for India in the shortest format.
Varun Chakravarthy makes his case
The last time Varun Chakravarthy played for India was on 5 November, 2021 against Scotland during a T20 World Cup match in Dubai. Since then, quite a lot has changed but one thing remains the same —Varun’s dedication to the game.
While it might still be early to say if he’s ahead of players like Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav in the pecking order, Varun continued to do what he does best. Yes, he went for 15 runs in his first over alone against Bangladesh on Sunday, but credit must be given to the way he dealt from that setback and bounced back. He gave away two fours and a six in his first over, but hardly gave the opposition batters freebies ever since.
Varun finished with figures of 3/31, but what caught the eye was the way he cleaned up Jaker Ali in the 10th over. Jaker would have expected a straight ball from Varun which is why he went ahead with a defensive shot, but the ball ended up turning through the bat-pad gap and onto the off-stump.
Varun might be 33 years old already and while it might be too early to talk on his chances for the 2026 T20 World Cup, the Bidar-born cricketer has proved that age is no bar.
Samson, Abhishek as openers — too early to judge
One of the biggest talking points ahead of this T20I series was the Sanju Samson-Abhishek Sharma opening duo. Context-wise, this T20I series is vastly different for the two. Samson would be desperate to get more chances consistently, whereas for Abhishek, it’s more like a learning curve.
Both were off to aggressive starts, but Abhishek only got going in the second over, hitting two fours and a six. And it wasn’t poor shot selection, or placement, or timing of the shot that cost Abhishek his wicket. It was poor judgement. Samson had only clipped a ball towards midwicket, but Abhishek seemed to be in a hurry and set off for a quick single. Samson, though, promptly commanded Abhishek to not go for the run, and just before the latter could make his way back, he was run-out by Towhid Hridoy at the bowlers’ end.
Yeh Sanju Samson ka style hain 🤟#INDvBAN #JioCinemaSports #IDFCFirstBankT20ITrophy pic.twitter.com/ZSEakH0hqQ
— JioHotstar Reality (@HotstarReality) October 6, 2024
Samson looked good in his 19-ball knock of 29, finally getting some runs under his belt. Sure, this was a seemingly small target to chase down and while the Kerala batter showed promise with his aggressive intent, it’s still too early to judge where he stands in terms of the pecking order. The next two T20Is should paint a much clearer picture with regards to that.
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