With India’s win by 86 runs in Delhi, they took their series-winning streak to 16, the most after 2019. Bangladesh is yet to win a T20I against India since 2019 and would want to change the records in the last T20I.
(Cricket news) India has Ravi Bishnoi and the KKR’s IPL star Harsit Rana warming the benches from the last 2 T20Is, India could bring both of them into the XI as a like-for-like replacement of Varun Chakaravarthy and Mayank Yadav – who have recovered from an injury ahead of his debut in the 1st T20I in Gwalior, to manage his workload after being named in the reserves of the 3-match test series against New Zealand.
Ravi Bishnoi has impressed the selectors and also jotted his name as the top-ranked T20I bowler during the 5-match T20I series against Australia in late 2023, whereas Harshit Rana took 19 wickets for Kolkata and was their 2nd-highest wicket-taker after the currently playing Varun Chakaravarthy, who made his international comeback after 3 years on the back of strong performances in the franchise leagues.
Contrary to India’s dominance, Bangladesh would be mourning their 4 consecutive losses, 2 red-ball games and 2 in the shortest format, with the one last match of this assignment to be played in Hyderabad, where the team who have batted first and scored 200+ have won the match, but that’s where the real problem arises for the team, as their batters are used to their home pitches where 140-150 is a winning total and that is significantly different to what India has been doing to them after chasing a total of 127 within 12 overs and smashing their highest total of 221 against the visitors in the 2nd.
Bangladesh’s bowlers are also not in a very good state, especially where the spinners displayed their woeful bowling in the second match after conceding runs with the economy of 14.75 off 8 overs despite putting the hosts down to 3 within the powerplay of the total of just 41. But their pacers, with the likes of Taskin, Mustafizur, and nascent and rousing Tanzin Hasan, happened to be promising despite all the smashing done to the bowlers, as they bowled eight overs and took 6 wickets to satisfy the team’s one department.
Mahmadullah will be playing his last T20 international, following his hard-fought knock of 41 in the last T20I, as he has been usually doing now for a few years but the team has not been ripping sweet results from his innings, which would make it a more logical and comprehensive decision to be taken considering his age and recent form to pave the way for the youngster and let then develop their skills through early age to get the exposure of the international circuit as soon as possible.
Players under the spotlight: Najmul Hossain Shanto and Sanju Samson
Bangladesh’s all-format captain, Najmul Hossain Shanto, has been unable to fire up this series with his role as a batter, with the highest score of 82 in the 1st test along with Shakib Al Hasan to chase a mammoth target in the fourth inning. Shanto has just a single fifty to his name, which is also in the test. But one positive for him as a player would be that in every inning he got a little or some start with proper cricketing shots that would turn the batter’s confidence but that was not the case with him, he couldn’t convert that start into a big score to lead the team from the front.
With the last night still left of this 5-match 2-format series, Shanto would want to threaten the hosts and put them under doubt about their team combination by imposing all the acts together not just for himself but for his whole team if to end the T20I series with 2-1.
Sanju Samson is the owner of huge potential in his batting, which he always displays in the IPL, and this time, as well as being selected in the T20 World Cup squad, he was given a chance in the warm-up game to open alongside Rohit but failed to step up on the team’s expectations. But given a chance again in the 5-match Zimbabwe series, Sanjus scored a watchful 58 in the last game and was also roped in for a 3-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, where his 2 successive ducks let his head down and brought the chances of his replacement up.
Gautam Gambhir decided to count on him as he always had on and off the field, Sanju was part of the XI that played against Bangladesh and scored a vigilant 29 off 19 but things didn’t change for him as his form slump continued in the second encounter. To be a regular in the white-ball squad, it would be necessary to finish the series on a high with an impactful inning that would make the selectors think about him as a backup while the presence of Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, and it would want him to tandem his skill and consistency.
