India VS Bangladesh 1st match
India beat Bangladesh by seven wickets with 49 balls to spare in the opening game of the three-match T20I series at Gwalior. It was another failure in the powerplay for Bangladesh as they got only 39 runs in the first six overs after being asked to bat, and eventually finished with 127. India, on the other hand, scored 71 runs in the powerplay and raced to the target in 11.5 overs.
Powerplay batting has been an issue for Bangladesh in the T20Is for quite a while, and their struggles continued, with the team also struggling with their opening combination for a long time. Litton Das (4) played a reckless shot to bring about his downfall in the first over while Parvez Hossain Emon, who returned to T20I cricket after a while, chopped one onto the stumps.
Bangladesh’s opening stand in this game was only 5 runs. Overall, the opening partnership has contributed only 69 runs in the last eight innings for Bangladesh, with a highest of 35, which has been the biggest worry for the team.
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“Powerplay is definitely a worry. The approach we talked about (before the game), it will be successful if we make a good start with the bat,” Najmul told reporters after the opening game at the Madhav Rao Scindia Cricket Stadium. “We have to keep the wickets in the first six overs, and score runs in those. Otherwise those coming in next, it becomes too challenging for them. We have struggled in the powerplay. Those batting in the power play must take more responsibility.”
According to Najmul skill-set and mentality are the main points of difference between the two teams but he added that their team is not as bad as it seemed after the opening game against India.
“I wouldn’t say we played badly. We are a better team than this. We haven’t done well in this format for a long time, but I don’t believe we are such a bad team,” said Najmul. “I don’t want to talk about any individual player. I think the batting unit didn’t do well today. There will be aggression in the way we approach our scoring, but sometimes we have to select the balls correctly. We will think about it, but we can’t rush in changing our approach.
“We have the ability, but we have room for improvement in our skills. We have been batting in this way for the last ten years. Sometimes we do well. We have to make some changes, perhaps where we practice back home. We play on 140-150 wickets at home. Our batters don’t know how to score 180 runs. I won’t blame just the wickets, but we have to consider skills and mentality,” he said.
