T20 World Cup 2022: Bangladesh lost the game rather than India winning – Sunil Gavaskar

Bangladesh was in a shoo-in position at 66-0 after seven overs while they were chasing 185 runs against India in the 35th match of the T20 World Cup 2022 at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday. The Tigers were 17 runs ahead on the Duckworth Lewis Stern score when the rain came down.

After the rain, the revised target was 151 in 16 overs for the Shakib Al Hasan-led team and thus they needed 85 to win off the last nine overs. However, Bangladesh lost the plot as they lost six wickets for only 40 runs after the rain break.

Liton Das, who had batted magnificently for his brilliant knock of 60 runs off just 27 balls, was run-out after KL Rahul hit the bullseye from the right of mid-wicket and it was the turning point of the game.

Bangladesh then kept losing wickets at regular intervals while the Indian team was able to grab their chances.

When asked if the rain break played a significant role in India’s win, Sunil Gavaskar told India Today, “Oh absolutely, at that particular point in time, they were 66 in seven overs, so we are taking about more than nine runs per over and they were scoring quite comfortably with 10 wickets in hand. And suddenly, when the target was reduced by almost 33 runs, they somehow seemed to have panicked. The asking rate was still the same as when they began their innings.”

The Little Master feels Bangladesh were not smart in their batting and it led to their downfall.

“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,” he concluded.

India will next take on Zimbabwe at the MCG on Sunday.