Adelaide: Who did India defeat? Rain or Bangladesh! The question will remain etched in the minds of those who were at the ground to witness this game. While batting very well, rain attacked Bangladesh. There were doubts about the start of the game.
Litton Das scored 66 runs thrashing all Indian bowlers. A toy tiger was seen in the gallery, on the shoulders of Bangladeshi supporters. Das' bat was on fire with an unbeaten 50 from 21 balls. Four boundaries and three over boundaries were ominous signs of putting India in trouble. That's when the rain came. If the game had not restarted, Bangladesh would have won because according to the rules of Duckworth and Lewis, Bangladesh was ahead by 17 runs! There were frequent calls to the press box from the team across the Padma river to get news of the rain. More rain means victory for Bangladesh. Bangladesh was hoping for this victory.
Krishnamachari Srikanth said, "There is no possibility of the match resuming with the condition of the sky." Hearing this, the Bangladeshi journalists were very happy. But the field workers said that the rain has stopped and another downpour will not happen. After that, the field was largely drained on war footing. Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan didn't want to play because of wet field. He was constantly asking umpire Marais Erasmus would it be possible to restart the game on this wet field? Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli came to join the discussion and Shakib understood that he had to play even if he didn't want to.
Finally, it was informed that according to the Duckworth and Lewis method, the game will have four overs less. Hence, Bangladesh needed to score 151 runs in 16 overs to emerge victorious!
Bangladesh had almost clinched the game. Seven runs were needed from the last ball but alas India won by 5 runs by giving out a complimentary one run courtesy Duckworth and Lewis method. Bangladesh is but a small thorn to India. Shakib had said the previous day that even if he won today, he would not be able to return home with the cup. But they did not flinch from the fight? Bangladesh did not move from that road. This is the greatest achievement. After defeating Bangladesh, India went a long way towards the semi-finals. Rahul Dravid, the World Cup and Bangladesh—this trinity is not very auspicious. In 2007, Rahul Dravid's India could not make it to the first round after losing to Bangladesh in the 50-over World Cup. There was going to be a stumble here in the 20-over World Cup as well. Somehow Bradman's town just survived.
When play resumed after the rain, the tally was 66 for no wickets in the previous 7 overs in the run bank. Duckworth and Lewis provided 84 runs in the next 9 overs. Lately almost all the teams are giving up this run at this rate.
Litton Das was run out as KL Rahul smashed the wicket straight from deep mid-wicket.
After that, due to lack of experience, Bangladesh could not make the necessary plans to win the match. In the end, Taskin Ahmed and Nurul Hasan made a desperate attempt. The target was 20 in the last over. Arshdeep was the bowler. He also conceded 14 runs in 5 balls. Seven runs were needed from the last ball. An over the boundary shot was mandated but it could not be found.
After South Africa, defeat from Bangladesh would have been a big blow to Rohit Shrma's India. The sky was cloudy all day. It was accompanied by a cold wind. Hence, Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and sent India in to bat. The men in blue made only one change in the team. Akshar Patel is brought back in place of Deepak Hooda.
Virat Kohli, the hero of India's batting again, had 8 boundaries and 1 six in his unbeaten innings of 64 runs. He is now the highest run scorer (1,065) in the T20 World Cup, surpassing Mahela Jayawardene (1,016). His runs in the current World Cup are 82 not out, 62, 12 and Wednesday's unbeaten 64 respectively. KL Rahul scored 50 off 32 balls. Despite changing the bowlers, Litton could not be contained early on. From Arshdeep to Bhuvneshwar Kumar via Mohammad Sami, the flow of runs was causing worry to the Indian camp.
Finally, after 5.4 overs a yorker came out of Sami's hands. Even Litton somehow managed to put the bat down and took a run.