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Gill ton in vain as Bangladesh sign off with victory
Shubman Gill’s fifth ODI century and a counter-attacking 42 by Axar Patel were in vain as Bangladesh held their nerve to pick up a thrilling six run win –their third in four ODIs against India — in the inconsequential final Super Fours encounter of the ongoing Asia Cup 2023. India rested five key players, having already booked their final berth, and found themselves chasing a competitive 266 after allowing Bangladesh’s tail to script a brilliant death-overs recovery in their batting innings. In reply, Gill held one end up to set up the platform with a 133-ball 121 and Axar provided the late impetus but his penultimate-over dismissal tilted the game in Bangladesh’s favour.
Bangladesh enjoyed the upper hand for most part of India’s chase, managing to break every substantial partnership at crucial junctures. Rohit Sharma chipped the second ball of the chase straight to cover-point to hand debutant Tanzin Hasan Shakib his maiden ODI wicket. The youngster then knocked over India debutant Tilak Varma’s stumps to make it two in his first two overs in international cricket. He finished an extended six-over opening spell with the impressive figures of 6-1-15-2.
Gill began the repair work in the company of KL Rahul, who lent an ideal supporting hand in the 54-run third-wicket stand. The pair got their eye in after the early jitters and steadied the ship but the pressure of dot balls eventually got to Rahul, who drilled one from Mahedi Hasan straight to short midwicket in his attempt to break free. Despite slowing down a tad in his 40s, Gill raised his fifty with a six off Mahedi, dancing down the track to loft it over cow-corner. However, Bangladesh hit back soon after with the wicket of Ishan Kishan, who burnt a review trying to overturn the LBW call against Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
Gill got Suryakumar for company as India looked to rebuild again but Bangladesh kept chipping away at regular intervals. Suryakumar made his intentions clear from the word go, sweeping his first ball to the fence and was a more proactive partner in the 45-run partnership over the next nine overs. However, a similar premeditated sweep brought an end to his knock on 26.
Gill sent two tossed up deliveries from Mehidy over long-on to enter 90s in style, but Bangladesh again managed to send back his partner, Ravindra Jadeja, in the over after drinks. The young opener carried on undeterred, welcoming Tanzin back into the attack with a brace to get to triple figures first and then celebrating the landmark with back to back fours. With 64 required off the last seven, Gill decided to step on the accelerator and heaved one over deep midwicket but Mahedi Hasan made a terrific comeback on the very next delivery, throwing it wider and having the opener caught at long-off in an attempt to clear the fence once again.
Down to 209/7, the onus fell on Axar Patel to see India through. His entertaining 34-ball 42, in the company of India’s tail, brought the equation down to 17 off 12 balls but Mustafizur Rahman’s twin strikes in the 49th over effectively put an end to India’s fight.
Earlier, contrasting fifties from Shakib Al Hasan (80 off 85) and Towhid Hridoy (54 off 81) and a fightback from the tail helped Bangladesh to a competitive 265/8 after poor shot selection from the top-order had them reeling at 28/3 shortly after being put in to bat. Mohammed Shami got the early breakthrough when he got one to nip back in, brush Litton Das’s pads and crash into the off-stump, while Shardul Thakur sent Tanzid Hasan and Anamul Haque packing off short balls.
Shakib led from the front in the rescue act, resurrecting the innings through a 101-run stand with Hridoy after Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s dismissal had once left them staring down the barrel at 59/4 inside 14 overs. Shakib built on the reprieve he got on 28, and notched up his 55th ODI fifty. Hridoy joined in after a watchful start and upped the ante by tonking two off Tilak Varma over the ropes. Shakib meted out similar treatment to Axar Patel at the other end, bringing up his half-century with the first.
It was Thakur who broke the blossoming century partnership first ball after drinks. Batting on 80, Shakib dragged an inside edge onto his leg-stump. One brought two and Ravindra Jadeja grabbed his 200th ODI scalp by trapping Shamim Hossain LBW in the very next over. Nasum Ahmed provided the impetus at one end as Hridoy marched on to a 77-ball fifty. He perished soon after but Nasum kept the odd boundary an over coming in his run-a-ball 44 that was instrumental in Bangladesh picking up some much-needed pace in the death overs. Bangladesh’s tail also put their hand up. While Mahedi Hasan (29* off 23) showed excellent running between wickets, debutant Tanzim Hasan Sakib dealt in boundaries in his brief 8-ball cameo of 14, enabling Bangladesh to collect 93 runs in the last 12 overs.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 265/8 in 50 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 80, Towhid Hridoy 54; Shardul Thakur 2-65, Mohammed Shami 2-32) beat India 259 all out in 49.5 overs (Shubman Gill 121, Axar Patel 42; Mustafizur Rahman 3-50, Tanzin Hasan Shakib 2-32) by 6 runs
The final week of the year is like a Roman feast for the Test cricket fan, and Boxing Day this year promises mouth-watering contests in Melbourne and Centurion but look this way too, will you? Bulawayo is set to host Zimbabwe’s first Boxing Day Test 8n 28 years too, and with unpredictable Afghanistan on the other side, a real tussle is expected between the two teams, who despite their recent underwhelming performances, would feel like they’re favourites. After all, the last time either side won a Test was against each other.
But that was way back 8n 2021. Since then, they have not found a way to win. And one look at the Zimbabwe and Afghanistan squads for this two-Test series suggests that they’re both looking to change that by taking a different direction for 2025 and beyond. A splattering of Test debutants are expected – theoretically, there could be as many 15 debuts across the two XIs – and this series could very well be the one that births a new generation.
And then, Travis Head walked out to bat at the MCG on Christmas morning. Pretty late on Christmas morning at that. The entire media pack had been waiting for him to do so. That was after all the final piece of the Australian team puzzle. Sam Konstas had already been revealed as a teenaged Test debutant for Boxing Day. Scott Boland had already been revealed to be Josh Hazlewood’s replacement at the MCG.
But following Andrew McDonald’s admission that the key batter in the Australian ranks was being bothered by a quad strain a day earlier, all eyes were on whether Head would get into the net for a hit. And a sigh of relief when he did, even if he looked more than bemused by all the attention. Once Head was done making an appearance, before Pat Cummins cleared the air about his availability for the fourth Test, the mood around the MCG went back to soaking in the Christmas spirit, with kids and families making the most of the vast expanse of the outfield at the ‘G.
It was a kid, all of 19, who stole all the attention a day earlier with every movement he made around the MCG, as he will on Boxing Day. Konstas’ first outing in a Baggy Green will go down as probably the most anticipated debut in Australian cricket for many a year. And Cummins couldn’t stop talking up the teenaged opener while revealing his own feelings when he made his Test debut at 18, some 13 years ago.
“I remember as an 18-year-old I was thinking, ‘I’ve got a lot more leeway because I was young’, almost publicly, so I almost felt like, if I didn’t have a great game, it wasn’t my fault, it was the selectors’ fault for picking me. I was like, ‘well, they’re the idiots that picked an 18 year old!'”
“You’re so young starting out your career – it’s Boxing Day, it doesn’t get any better than this. So just enjoy the moment.”
Great advice that should stand true not just for the young New South Welshman but for everyone who’ll take the field in front of 92,000 people on a 40-degree day at the MCG. It doesn’t get better than this, not just in terms of the setting, but also where the series stands, level currently at 1-1. A loss for Australia will mean their drought with regards to winning the Border Gavaskar Trophy will extend to at least 13 years, with the next battle between these two teams scheduled only in early 2027, that too on Indian soil. An Indian loss will not just make this series even more scintillating, but could also deliver a painful blow to the visitors’ chances of making the World Test Championship final.
It could well be the hottest Boxing Day in recent memory, but the heat will add an intriguing element to how the toss goes, and what decisions get made with regards to team composition as well. Worry about the weather and bat first on a pitch that has been the friendliest for seam bowling since 2021, when Scotty Boland ran through England? Or back your fast bowlers to make the most of the surface conditions and roll over the opposition batting line-up to give yourself the early advantage. Either way, with no rain really forecast over the five days, it’ll be interesting to see how long the Test really lasts. Oh, the MCG will be packed, noisy, with the energy levels around the iconic venue at fever-pitch.
Australia Probable XI:Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
India Probable XI:Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy/Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj
[Cricbuzz]
Jasprit Bumrah has attained the joint-highest rating points ever for an Indian bowler on the rankings chart after his 9 for 94 in the third Test against Australia in Brisbane.
The Indian spearhead, who already heads the rankings list for bowlers, further consolidated his position at the top by adding 14 points to his tally taking it to 904 rating points, 48 clear of second-placed Kagiso Rabada (856). The only other Indian bowler to achieve this tally is the recently retired R Ashwin who got there after the fourth Test against England in Mumbai in December 2016.
Bumrah, who is currently the highest wicket taker in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Series with 21 scalps in six innings at 10.90, now has a chance to break Ashwin’s record when the two teams meet in Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test with the series locked 1-1.
Meanwhile, Travis Head’s 152 in the first innings of the Brisbane Test on the back of a century in Adelaide has seen him overtake Yashasvi Jaiswal and move to fourth on the batters’ list which is led by Joe Root. Steven Smith also made his way into the top ten of the charts after his 101 in Brisbane, entering at the tenth position, while Rishabh Pant has moved out of the top ten.
On the ODI front, Heinrich Klassen’s three back-to-back fifties against Pakistan have seen him rise eight spots – from 13th to fifth on the batting table. Opener Saim Ayub who had a breakthrough series against South Africa, with scores of 109, 25 and 101 as Pakistan clean swept the series 3-0, advanced 57 slots to a career-best 23rd position.
Babar Azam continues to lead the ODI batting list, with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in second and third place, respectively.
Winless in three years, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan set for rare Boxing Day Test
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