‘Bangladesh lost the game rather than India winning it’: Sunil Gavaskar on final-ball thriller at Adelaide

Team India has almost confirmed their semi-final berth in T20 World Cup 2022 as they outplayed Bangladesh in the gripping battle on Wednesday at the Adelaide Oval. Batting first, powered by KL Rahul and Virat Kohli’s half-centuries, the Men in Blue produced a massive 184 runs on the board. In response, Bangladesh pulled off a promising start as their opener Litton Kumar Das went all guns blazing. His explosive 26-ball 59 took Bangladesh to a dominant position after 7 overs when the rain halted proceedings. T20 World Cup:  Full coverage  |  Schedule  |  Results  |  Points Table  |  News  |  Photos As the game resumed, Indian bowlers came out of their shells and went hard on the opponent batters. Hence, the Bangladesh batting unit fell like a deck of cards. Referring to the massive collapse, India legend Sunil Gavaskar blamed Bangladesh cricketers’ lack of composure in the latter half of the chase. During a conversation with India Today, Gavaskar made a statement that Bangladesh lost the match rather than India won it. While being asked how the rain turned the fortune of the contest, the former cricketer pointed out the poor shot selections by the Bangladesh batters. He explained, “With 10 wickets in hand, they were scoring pretty comfortably at 66 in 7 overs. They then appeared to have panicked when the target was trimmed by almost 33 runs. The asking rate remained the same since when they started their inning.” According to him, the batters attempted to hit a six off nearly every delivery, aiming for the short square boundaries, rather than playing sensible cricket. Also read:  India rally, show class and cohesion that make them the team they are Gavaskar also lauded the Indian bowlers and fielders for holding their nerves in that kind of situation. He noted that the back-to-back catches at long on and deep mid-wicket completely changed the equation. “Instead of playing smart cricket, they tried to hit a six just about every ball, trying to target the short square boundaries. The Indians bowled cleverly, just out of the arc of the big shots. Hence, the shots, which otherwise would have gone for sixes were caught at long on and deep mid-wicket,” he added. “I would say Bangladesh lost the game rather than India winning the game. Yes, India kept their nerves, but it was Bangladesh’s batting where they panicked and tried to play too many glory shots. If they had played smart cricket, worked the ball around for twos, they would have got 10 runs an over and that’s all that they needed.” Players like KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Hooda put up tremendous efforts on the field to fetch much-needed wickets. The fiery bowling attack of Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya also deserves much praise. With the win, India have again climbed to the top of their group with 6 points in 4 matches so far. They will play their final group match against Zimbabwe on 6 November at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .