Jasprit Bumrah (left) and Varun Chakravarthy will be eyeing a good show.
Credit: Reuters/X@BCCI
Dubai: It took Bangladesh nine attempts to secure their first Twenty20 International victory over the Indian cricket team; either side of that seven-wicket defeat in Delhi in November 2019, it’s been India all the way.
An unambiguous 16-1 record, bolstered by three comprehensive triumphs last October at home, point to India’s unquestioned hegemony.
In the last faceoff, Suryakumar Yadav’s marauding unit rattled up 297 for six in Hyderabad, their highest T20I total constructed around a blazing 111 from Sanju Samson.
It’s against this backdrop that the teams will line up at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday in a battle of the unbeatens in the Super Fours of the T20 Asia Cup. Bangladesh made up for their Group B league defeat by overcoming Sri Lanka by four wickets on Saturday, 24 hours before India extended their dominance over Pakistan with a six-wicket rout.
India will be the first to concede that the 16-1 scoreline is somewhat flattering. Bangladesh have run them close numerous times without being able to deliver the knockout punch, not least in World Cup ties in Bengaluru (2016) and Adelaide (2022) when India’s greater experience and their ability to hold their nerve under pressure stood them in good stead.
Of course, who can forget Dinesh Karthik’s last-ball six off Soumya Sarkar in the final of the Nidahas Trophy in Colombo in March 2018, an emphatic blow that overturned near-certain defeat into a famous addition to India’s trophy cabinet?
Personnel-wise, Bangladesh have moved on from the inglorious past. Litton Das does have the luxury of falling back on a few seasoned campaigners, among them Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed and Mahedi Hasan, but there is a profusion of youth that does not carry the baggage of previous heartbreaks. Whether that alone will be enough to quell India’s pedigreed firepower is another matter altogether.
The only unbeaten outfit of the tournament, India haven’t been seriously challenged in their four preceding games. There is plenty of scope for improvement, however. Worry might be an exaggeration, but India will keep a serious eye on Jasprit Bumrah.
In his first tryst with the 20-over game internationally since last year’s World Cup, the celebrated paceman has been way below his best. His legendary control has been conspicuously absent, and he has been unable to respond swiftly or decisively when batters have taken him on, like opener Sahibzada Farhan did in both the showdowns against Pakistan.
Bumrah has taken a mere three wickets from 11 overs, nine of them in the Powerplay, but more damagingly, he has gone for 8.36 runs per over. On Sunday, his first three overs yielded 34, the most runs he has conceded in the Powerplay in representative 20-over cricket. Apart from the yorker that accounted for UAE opener Alishan Sharafu, the man with a history of unforgettable deliveries has hardly produced one of those.
With the tournament hurtling towards a climax, India need Bumrah to be at his penetrative best, especially with the new ball because then, it will make the job of the three-pronged spin attack that bit easier.
Like Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy too will be on the lookout for wickets. The No. 1 T20I bowler’s two successes have come at a strike-rate of 30 and even though he has been supremely economical (5.30 runs per over), he has made a name for himself as a wicket-taking force in the middle overs alongside Kuldeep Yadav. The batters have hogged the limelight, as they invariably do in T20s, but it’s on Bumrah and Chakravarthy that most eyeballs will be trained, come Wednesday.