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20th over: Bangladesh 104-2 (Shakib 29, Mushfiqur 17) Every bowler is going between five and six, except for Kumar’s 3.60. Pandya bowls this one, and three singles and a couple are scored.
19th over: Bangladesh 98-2 (Shakib 25, Mushfiqur 15) Successive boundaries for Mushfiqur, who flicks one down the leg side and then hammers the next over midwicket.
18th over: Bangladesh 88-2 (Shakib 24, Mushfiqur 6) Shakib, who’s having a ridiculous tournament with the bat, dabs the ball fine for four. Nine off the over, but they need more than seven from here on in. India were 105 without loss at this point.
17th over: Bangladesh 79-2 (Shakib 18, Mushfiqur 3) Chahal bowls to Shakib, and it comes off his gloves, nutmegs Dhoni and rolls away for one.
16th over: Bangladesh 75-2 (Shakib 16, Mushfiqur 1) A wide, a wicket and a run from the over. And here’s a stat about Soumya attacking wide deliveries; he certainly attacked his last one.
India really have refused to give Soumya Sarkar width with any great regularity - but when they have, Soumya has looked to punish it. Of the nine widest balls he's faced, he's attacked seven of them. He's only attacked one straighter delivery. #CWC19pic.twitter.com/o2P1kQVeKl
Pandya bowls short and wide; Soumya licks his lips, swings his bat, and smacks it straight to extra cover, where Kohli does’t have to move!
15th over: Bangladesh 71-1 (Soumya 33, Shakib 16) Chahal bowls, and the batsmen take a single. As the ball is thrown back to the bowler from the field he overbalances, and headbuts Shakib’s bat. He rises, winces, rubs his jaw and gets on with it.
14th over: Bangladesh 69-1 (Soumya 31, Shakib 14) Shami’s back, and Soumya honks the first ball down the ground for four, and hoiks the last over cover for four more!
13th over: Bangladesh 59-1 (Soumya 22, Shakib 13) Chahal bowls, and Shakib lifts his first delivery over his right shoulder to fine leg for four. Rishabh Pant has kept wicket for the last couple of overs, with Dhoni briefly off the field, but is now handing back the gloves.
12th over: Bangladesh 53-1 (Soumya 22, Shakib 7) India thus lose their review, which seems a little harsh for such a marginal decision, and when ball tracking would have shown umpire’s call, which would have allowed them to keep it. The over had started with Soumya hitting through the covers for four, the best shot of his innings so far.
It doesn’t even get that far, as it’s impossible to decide with any certainty that the ball didn’t hit the bat, or, if it did so, whether it hit the pad first. It all seemed to happen at the same time, and given the on-field decision I can’t see how it could have happened any differently. Kohli is miffed about it, but for what it’s worth ball tracking wouldn’t have overruled the umpire’s call.
The umpire, however, doesn’t. It looked to me like it was probably missing leg stump.
11th over: Bangladesh 47-1 (Soumya 17, Shakib 6) Bumrah’s back, presumably in the belief that cheaply dismissing Shakib Al Hasan would snap Bangladesh’s spirit like a brittle twig. Instead Shakib drives down the ground for four, nicely timed.
10th over: Bangladesh 40-0 (Soumya 16, Shakib 1) Tamim raced out of the blocks, scored 15 from his first 12 deliveries with three excellent boundaries, then his form suddenly departed and he got seven off his next 17 balls, with no boundaries.
Tamim tries to push a rising ball down to third man but he’s late to it, and it flicks off the toe of the bat and into the stumps!
9th over: Bangladesh 38-0 (Tamim 22, Soumya 15) Bhuvi Kumar continues, and four singles are taken. This is a decent start from Bangladesh, but they require something a bit more than decent.
8th over: Bangladesh 34-0 (Tamim 20, Soumya 13) Mohammad Shami replaces Bumrah, and Soumya Sakar gets his first boundary, lifting over point for four. Meanwhile in Leicester, England are struggling against both Australia and the umpires:
WICKET! Fran WIlson cannot believe she is given out lbw with the ball clearly striking her glove.
England 52-4 after 15 overs, with Sciver (12 not out) and Brunt (3 not out) at the crease.
Watch #WomensAshes live on Sky Sports Mix (channel 121) now. pic.twitter.com/ElQZWCq2bC
7th over: Bangladesh 28-0 (Tamim 20, Soumya 7) Tamim, timing still Awol, slogs the ball skyward towards deep midwicket, where it lands safely.
6th over: Bangladesh 24-0 (Tamim 16, Soumya 7) They take a sharp single to short third man, where Pandya fields and takes a shy at the stumps. He misses, though, and with nobody backing up it rockets away to the rope and they end up with five. Bumrah’s penultimate delivery is clocked at 93mph; his last is a steepling bouncer that Dhoni does well to get a glovetip to, saving a few runs in the process. Six off the over: a single, four overthrows and a bye.
5th over: Bangladesh 18-0 (Tamim 16, Soumya 2) Tamim’s timing vanishes as Bhuvi takes aims at leg stump, and after some awkward squirming they scamper a couple of singles off the last couple of deliveries.
4th over: Bangladesh 16-0 (Tamim 15, Soumya 1) Phwoar! Bumrah’s delivery heads towards leg stump, straightens off the seam, whips past the bat and bounces just over off. A maiden, and a very uncomfortable one for the batsman.
3rd over: Bangladesh 16-0 (Tamim 15, Soumya 1) Tamim is looking in fabulous nick already, now driving imperiously through the covers. Soumya, by contrast, is feeling his way into proceedings.
2nd over: Bangladesh 9-0 (Tamim 9, Soumya 0) Tamim pings the ball off his pads and through midwicket for four, fabulously timed. Then Bumrah’s last delivery, a bit too wide of off stump, is speared through the covers.
1st over: Bangladesh 1-0 (Tamim 1, Soumya 0) Bhuvi Kumar bowls, and after two dots Tamim Iqbal waves his bat at a delivery that starts wide and moves wider, an ugly shot that misses the ball by a distance. A single later Soumya’s at it as well, after the ball jags wildly off the seam, and then the last heads the other way, into the batsman who reacts well to fend it away.
The players are already back out, and ready to rock.
@Simon_Burnton
Bangladesh should consider their target as 285 in 40 overs as one gentleman named Bumrah has his quota of 10 overs #BANvIND#ICCCricketWorldCup2019
Thanks Daniel. Afternoon/morning/whatever everyone. Well this might be fun. At one stage it looked like Bangladesh would have had a lot more than 315 runs to aim at, though they have only scored 300+ to win ODIs four times in their history (most recently against West Indies a couple of weeks back). This might just be doable, if they get off to a good start and assuming India’s late-innings slow-down was entirely down to Bangladesh’s excellence and not the pitch suddenly mutating into something awkward.
I suppose the most likely outcome here is India by 60 or so, but there’s plenty of scope for something way, way better than that. Bangladesh will miss Mamudullah (and yours) - they’ll probably need something serious from Tamim, who owes them one, and Shakib – but both are eminently capable.
Simon Burnton will coax you through all of that - you can email him here or tweet @Simon_Burnton.
For a long time, that looked like being a lot more – Rohit Sharma is decent at ODIs – and Bangladesh will fancy they’ve a chance in the chase. India are warm favourites, especially with the pitch slowing up, but Bangladesh have some serious firepower, if they can avoid losing wickets in the opening powerplay.
Shami does all he can to manufacture a hoik to leg from a ball outside off, but contrives to shovel onto his stumps instead. That’s fifer for Mustafizur, who bowled a superb final over.
They run on a wide and Mushfiqur chucks to Mustafizur, who removes the bails.
50th over: India 315-7 (Kumar 3, Shami 1) Bhuvi forces a single to midwicket, then Shami drags from outside off to wide long on. Then a wide, and they try to steal and extra run...
Dhoni goes again, unloading the years at a bouncer, but it’s on him too quickly and he slams it into the air, cross-batted; Shakib catches easily, behind the stumps at the non-striker’s.
50th over: India 311-6 (Dhoni 35, Kumar 1) Mustafizur charges in and Dhoni flays him to long off, but there’s a man out; Dhoni refuses the single because he’s Dhoni. Next, he cracks to the man at mid on...
49th over: India 311-6 (Dhoni 35, Kumar 1) Dhoni drives two to cover and they run two, then he absolutely zetzes four through extra cover, down on one knee like back in the day. Two dots follows, then he hops back, waits, and clouts four more - through extra cover again. “Dhoni, Dhoni, Dhoni!” chant the crowd, even though their hero is wearing a tank top. I guess we can abandon the OBO’s sartorial code when it comes to his ilk.
48th over: India 300-6 (Dhoni 24, Kumar 1) Bhuvi gets off the mark immediately, nudging into the off side for one, then Dhoni adds another. This has been a really great comeback from Bangladesh, who were in danger of chasing a monster but are now looking at something manageable.
“I think the point is that by virtue of being level on points both teams have had the same chance against the same opposition and ended up with the same points,” says Geoff Saunders. “So head to head must be a better indicator of the better side to go forward. If not, you get a situation where one team goes to the next stage by virtue of hitting more runs against poor opposition but the team that beat them is left out. How would you feel if you had beaten that team yet they go through?”
A well-disguised slower-ball bouncer has Karthik piling through the shot way too soon and spooning a catch to mid on.
47th over: India 297-5 (Dhoni 22, Karthik 8) Shaifuddin returns, and Karthik could do with doing something, being picked for roughly this eventuality. And he does, shaping to drive then opening the face to smack a square drive through point for four. Three singles before, then two after, make this a reasonable over, nine coming from it, but I’m not sure why India aren’t swinging for the fences. Bhuvi can bat, so they’ve got at least one more wicket to risk losing.
46th over: India 288-5 (Dhoni 19, Karthik 2) Is Dhoni going? He takes a tiny step then allows the ball across body and bat, glancing to the fence for four. A single follows, but the fielder shies, hits, and concedes an overthrow., then three more singles arrive.
“Have you seen the number of times that Rohit Sharma gets out immediately after getting his hundred,” tweets Krish. “Show me a more selfish , personal glory driven cricketer than him. And Bangladesh has all chances now to wrap up this game.”
45th over: India 279-5 (Dhoni 11, Karthik 1) India need something from Dhoni here, but it’s Karthik on strike and he’s off the mark right away, turning to midwicket. Dhoni has to content himself with a single too, then an absolute jaffa grips and spins past Karthik’s outside edge. The last delivery is a dot, and Shakib finishes with 1-41 from his 10, yet another dazzling effort.
A heave takes the ball from outside off to deep square, but it’s not out of the middle and picks out the man, who botches it ... only to take the rebound off his own shoulder. Bangladesh are bang in this!
44th over: India 277-4 (Pant 48, Dhoni 10) Rubel returns and strays to leg - though Mushfiqur should stop it - ceding four leg byes. Dhoni’s found it tricky against the spinners so might fancy a dart here, but it takes until the fourth ball of the over for Pant to work a single ... but it doesn’t matter, its final delivery pulled hard to deep square for four.
The women’s Ashes are about to get underway - be following them here.
Related: England v Australia: Women's Ashes, first ODI – live!
43rd over: India 268-4 (Pant 47, Dhoni 6) Shakib has bowled pretty well here - he’s 0-39 off nine - and the three added to his tally from this over, he’d’ve took, as Ryan Giggs would say.
42nd over: India 265-4 (Pant 44, Dhoni 6) And there he goes! Mustafizur tries a full one and Pant bends the knee to curl a pull around his front foot, sending a one-bounce four to deep square. Pant is a serious talent!A wide follows, then a single, before Dhoni times three through midwicket. Pant responds with a single, and that’s 10 off the over.
“After that wicket of Pandya, India’s progress depends on three wicket-keepers,” says Mahindra Killedar. “Not sure how many times that has happened before!!”
41st over: India 255-4 (Pant 38, Dhoni 3) Shakib returns for a go at Dhoni, who twirls through a very useful over, just three coming from it. I wonder if Dhoni will be content to keep the score moving, leaving the pyrotechnics to Pant [insert name-based gag here].
40th over: India 251-4 (Pant 36, Dhoni 1) Have a look! Pant does not wait to be asked! After defending Saifuddin’s first ball, he creams him through cover for four; then whacks through midwicket for four; then rousts through point for four! Two singles follow, and that’s 14 from the over.
“One theoretical consideration against head-to-head as a tournament classifier”, tweets Rory Bowden, “is that, if two teams are tied on overall results, then head-to-head and each team’s performance against all other teams necessarily give opposing results.”
39th over: India 237-4 (Pant 23, Dhoni 0) A double-wicket maiden from Mustafizur, and the key over of the match so far. Bangladesh won’t mind even 10 an over from here.
Yep, this new one works well! Mustafizur rolls his fingers over one, it sticks in the pitch a little, and Pandya guides expertly to slip. Bangladesh might just have themselves a live chase!
39th over: India 237-3 (Pant 23, Pandya 0) Pandya plays one defensive shot, then calls for a new bat. Attention to detail, that.
They’re not together anymore! Kohli pulls for his favourite short boundary and is punished for his ungentlemanly conduct, picking out the fielder who snaffles, then puts the brakes on sharpish. Not that short after all then, what.
38th over: India 237-2 (Kohli 26, Pant 23) Pant is in alright! Soumya offers him length, so he gets down to it, sways away, and sweeps it fine for four. That is rrrridiculous behaviour, and another six runs come from the over; as kong as these two are togther, India are looking good for 350 or so.
“Iconoclast or bust,” says Matt Dony. “Completely on board with your summation of Imagine. Obviously, there are objectively worse songs in existence, but I don’t think there’s another song with so great a disparity between actual quality and the amount of praise heaped upon it by people who should know better. Bad 6th Form poetry set to a twee melody. See also: the writings of Philip K Dick. His books always make great sci-fi lists and people eulogise about his genius, but they’re so badly written that they’re almost unreadable at points. Great ideas, yes. But shocking execution.”
37th over: India 227-2 (Kohli 23, Pant 16) Shakib returns and have a look! He gives one some air, and Virat - he of the elasticated iron wrists - spirits it through midwicket, breaking them at the last second. Four, then a single, then four to Pant who gets down on one knee, stays low, and paddles over the spin. He’s in now, and will be snorting a chance to establish himself.
36th over: India 217-2 (Kohli 18, Pant 11) Soumya returns just as my Sky player crashes, but they milk six from his over. If Bangldesh can limit India to, say, another 120 from the 14 overs left, they might just fancy the chase. However, they’ll need to get Kohli out to get near that. Good luck, lads.
“As a Bangladesh fan I am happy to echo praise for Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim,” says Sumit Rahman, “but we must surely salute the best news story of all so far from Bangladesh in this World Cup. But then again, I don’t know if we want to give Jonny Bairstow any more ideas of dealing with criticism – I prefer his ‘score a century next match’ method.”
Related: Bangladeshi doctor is sent to rural clinic 'for criticising cricketer'
35th over: India 211-2 (Kohli 14, Pant 9) Rubel opens his seventh over with a leg bye, then Kohli twizzles four through midwicket - Mashrafe dived, but couldn’t get down fast enough.Two singles follow.
34th over: India 204-2 (Kohli 9, Pant 8) Mossadek replaces Soumya and is doing quite nicely, just a wide conceded from his first four balls, until Pant sidles down the track and swings him into the seats at long on with minimum effort and maximum prejudice.
“After seeing the post suggesting that England and NZ might contrive a result to keep Pakistan out,” says Terry Hogan, “I knocked up a quick NRR spreadsheet to run a few hypotheticals.
33rd over: India 196-2 (Kohli 9, Pant 1) Pant will be nervous here and Rubel sends him a tempter to start, slanted across and pleading to be played. Pant has a wave but misses, then gets off the mark with one to square leg.
Rahul looks to cut a ball that’s too close to him and clunks a substantial edge behind. Suddenly, Bangladesh are in the game!
33rd over: India 195-1 (Rahul 77, Kohli 9) Rubel overpitches to Virat, who monsters him for four down the ground then ro-tates the strike.
32nd over: India 190-1 (Rahul 77, Kohli 4) Soumya is milked for six, and I wonder if Kohli will set about him next time.
“You are not the only one wondering that about Rahul,” emails Digvijay Yadav. “Most of India is too. I wonder if there is a similarity between KL Rahul and, say, a young Ian Bell in that he’s obsessed with technical purity and perfectionism instead of simply seeing the ball and smacking it.”
31st over: India 184-1 (Rahul 74, Kohli 1) Rubel is the lucky man, allowed to rustle through an over or two before Kohli gets violent. Just three from it - one to Kohli, who bunts into the off side and sets off, and two singles to Rahul.
“Given that we inhabit that layer of the multiverse in which Mull of Kintyre exists,” says Billy Mills, “neither Imagine nor Chasing Cars can be said to be the worst song ever. Not by a long shot, no!”
30th over: India 181-1 (Rahul 72 ,Kohli 0) All Tamim wanted was to keep Kohli in the hutch and now look what his mates have gone and done.
An off break diddles Rohit’s timing as he looks to go over midwicket allowing Liton Das to retreat and take the catch at cover. Decent knock, but at least they got him early before Tamim’s drop could really matter.
30th over: India 180-0 (Rahul 71, Rohit 104) Rohit turns four off his hip to square leg.
29th over: India 176-0 (Rahul 71, Rohit 100) Shakib is on the floor! He targets the stumps, the bounce stays low, and Rohit misses with his drive! Poor Tamim! The batsmen then swap singles, and the crowd are up, waiting for Rohit’s century ... and there it is, the run he needs coming to cover. He tosses his bat, catches it, and is now tied with Sangakkara for the most tons in any world cup, four - except he’s not done here, not by a long chalk. He’s quite good at cricket.
28th over: India 173-0 (Rahul 70, Rohit 98) “Rohit, Rohit, Rohit!” chant the crowd as Soumya trundles through another quiet over, three singles and a wide coming from it.
“This should be called the Net Run Rate game,” tweets Guy Hornsby. “It neatly explains MSD’s antics at the end of Sunday when they moved their focus to hammering a fast glut of runs today. But I’d argue we’ll be more battle hardened by India and NZ, as long as we win, which is a big IF.”
27th over: India 169-0 (Rahul 69, Rohit 96) Shakib returns and is milked for five singles. I wonder how many Rohit can make here, because this first hundred, if he makes it will be quick by his standards.
“Isn’t it amazing how the short boundaries seem to now be against the very essence of cricket in the narratives of Harsha Bhogle and Sanjay Manjrekar,” emails Suhas Misra. “I am pretty sure that the boundaries were just as short earlier and the only thing new is the post-match comments of Virat Kohli after the loss to England. Cricket has famously had its quirks through all of its history, and to hanker for standardising boundaries now, seems little else then getting (and acting on) the memo from a captain who just can’t accept that his team can lose without externalities.”
26th over: India 164-0 (Rahul 67, Rohit 93) Soumya Sarkar into the attack and that’s a decent start - he cedes just two singles. Poor Tamim.
I’m told that my email address was incorrect - that’s now changed if you’d like to refresh, but otherwise try daniel.harris.casual@theguardian.com
25th over: India 162-0 (Rahul 66, Rohit 92) There’s not a lot in this pitch, but Bumrah hasn’t bowled on it yet, with 613 on the board. Rubel escapes with four from the over.
Meanwhile, here’s this week’s Spin.
Related: The Spin | Time for England’s poor post-1992 Cricket World Cup record to improve
24th over: India 158-0 (Rahul 63, Rohit 91) Mustafizur back into the defence, and immediately Rohit goes onto the attack, tapping six over the bowler’s head and striking the pose like there’s nothing to it, Rogue, Rogue, Rogue. he’s playing with such confidence, like a man entirely comfortable with his talent and in himself - it’s easy for him. Two singles, a two and a single follow, making this another big over, 11 from it. Poor old Tamim; if you octuple the score at 24 overs you get the intensity of his guilt.
23rd over: India 147-0 (Rahul 62, Rohit 81) Er, thanks for coming Rubel. Rahul takes a single then Rohit pulls high for four to long on, He’s already got three tons in this World Cup, and it’s impossible to see him not making it four. He’s now the competition’s leading run scorer.
“Imagine Rohit Sharma hitting a double ton today,” croons Abhijato Sensarma. “Pulling serenely all the way in peace/ You may say that I’m a dreamer/ But I’m not the only one/ I hope that during some over, you’ll join us/ And the world will be as one.....”
22nd over: India 139-0 (Rahul 60, Rohit 75) Rahul guides Mosaddek into the off side, then Rohit dematerialises him back over his head into the second tier; pace off the ball, like I said. There’s something about Rohit’s swing, there really is - it’s so simple and so smooth, but so gloriously exaggerated like he’s in a comic book and I guess he sort of is, it’s just real life for the rest of us. Anyway, he and Rahul exchange singles before a jaunt down the wicket allows him to assault the final delivery on the full, whamming over cow corner for four more and breaking his bat in he process. Thirteen off the over.
21st over: India 126-0 (Rahul 58, Rohit 64) Rohit swings at Rubel and doesn’t get all of him, carting high towards wide long on - the ball’s in the air a long time and Tamim doesn’t drop it. Any port in a storm. The batsmen run two, then Rahul nurdles one, and that’s a better over – pace off the ball seems like a better option for Bangladesh.
20th over: India 122-0 (Rahul 57, Rohit 61) The problem for Bangladesh now is that quiet overs won’t do it, especially when a quiet over means five singles ... and a drop? Rahul shoves back to Mossadek, who goes low to field ... but it’s not clear whether the ball carried and he couldn’t hold, or if it fell short.
19th over: India 117-0 (Rahul 55, Rohit 58) Rubel into the attack and Rahul is ready for him, waiting for his slotted loosener and cleansing it back past him. Good morrow, young sir, and welcome to the middle. Rubel’s next effort is on the pads, so Rahul turns it away and a misfield grants him the two he needs to raise his fifty; he’s looking very confident now. I wonder with him, though, if he’ll ever be top level, or just someone who scores big against less good opposition but when it really counts is unlikely to offer much more than a spawny 40. Anyway, Rubel then beats him outside off before due punishment is administered, a fit as cover-drive for four more. If Bangladesh can’t find something and soon, this is going to get pretty ugly and ugly pretty.
18th over: India 105-0 (Rahul 44, Rohit 57) Mosaddek into the attack and Rohit sweeps his second ball for two; that’s the hundred partnership. Four singles follow and both these batsmen are seeing it now, their footwork so sharp and dainty.
17th over: India 99-0 (Rahul 42, Rohit 53) Rahul cuts Shakib – I think he cussed down his mum – but an excellent dive at point from Sabbir saves four. A single follows, then Rohit connects with a sweep but picks out square leg; they run one.
16th over: India 97-0 (Rahul 41, Rohit 52) KL Rahul comes to the party! Sorry, Mark Nicholas just elbowed me off my keyboard, but what happened was Rahul caned Mashrafe over wide long on for six! He then adds three more with a flick to midwicket, and India are flying.
“You want a life hack?” asks Ian Copestake. “You can’t handle this life hack. Viv Richards fairly famously suffered from haemorrhoids and faced down the social embarrassment that goes with it. I don’t know if his discomfort ever reached the stage of having to have the blighters removed but if he had known this hack he would not have needed to. To all OBOers suffering in silence I say unto you that a fibre supplement like metamucil is all you need. It will change your life.”
15th over: India 87-0 (Rahul 32, Rohit 51) Time’s up, my child. Rohit presses forward, backs away, and admonishes Shakib over the short boundary at midwicket - Virat asks that the runs be chalked off due to the unfairness of it all, but nothing doing. Next, a single down to the point fence, and that’s yet another fifty for yerman, who’s now just 27 behind Warner and 13 behind Finch in the competition top-scorers list.
14th over: India 78-0 (Rahul 31, Rohit 43) This is much better from Bangladesh, who’ve stemmed the flow of boundaries. A two and two ones come from the over as we see the highest averages of one-day openers; Rohit is top with 57.88, Amla second with 49.89. Basically, don’t be dropping him.
13th over: India 74-0 (Rahul 30, Rohit 41) Perhaps the middle overs have come early because this is another tight one. Rahul takes one to cover, the only run of the over.
“Talking of keeping stuff in the freezer,” says John Starbuck, “do the same with your bottle of Limoncello, but remember to bring it out near the start of the meal so it’s had the ice melted ready for consuming with the dessert. (Note: this is a reprise of an OBO email some years back.) PS. When you get to a certain age, you no longer have to worry about being cool or not.”
12th over: India 73-0 (Rahul 29, Rohit 40) Mashrafe must’ve been tempted to thank himself but forces another turn and it’s a much better effort, ceding just two singles.
“Vital life hack that I successfully deployed as recently as yesterday evening,” advises Brian Withington . “Changing the rubber grip on a cricket bat without a cone (re)using just a plastic bag. Engenders a tremendous sense of satisfaction that overrides any lingering environmental concerns.
11th over: India 71-0 (Rahul 28, Rohit 39) Shakib into the attack - I’m a little surprised it’s taken so long - and he sends down a much-needed over of serious bowling, just a single and a wide from it.
“That clip of Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street is one of my favourites,” emails Simon McMahon, “and as luck would have it, I’m going to see him in Hyde Park on Saturday, the day after I’ve been to Lord’s to see Bangladesh play Pakistan. Now I’m hoping that Stevie will turn up at the cricket and give the Bangladeshi anthem the full treatment. I think the ICC is missing a trick there.”
10th over: India 69-0 (Rahul 28, Rohit 38) The thing about England beating India is how it’s really knocked their confidence ... ah yes, there’s Rahul coming down to Mushrafe’s first ball and cracking it past mid off for four. And, well, oh dear - India, who tend to go slowish at the start to go ape later on are taking Bangladesh off the set, Rohit caressing through third man for four more.
9th over: India 59-0 (Rahul 23, Rohit 33) Lifehack: do not drop Rohit Sharma. After Rahul nudges a single to midwicket, consecutive fours, the first clouted on the up through extra, the second chased and angled, flat-batted, through backward point. In case Tamim is following the OBO, here’s another lifehack: keep your scotch bonnets (the best chilli pepper by far, don’t @ me) in the freezer, so that once you’ve chopped them you’re free to take your lenses out, go to the toilet, or do any of the normal, stupid things you were never warned not to do. Any more for any more?
8th over: India 47-0 (Rahul 21, Rohit 24) Mark Nicholas talks about Englanc crowding Rahul, thereby putting Rohit under pressure - it seemed to really upset him. Anyway, Saifuddin gives Rahul one on his pads which he expertly glances for four, so Saifuddin goes back outside off, overpitching, and the full face says in your face; four more. A single follows, that’s another fat-up over, 11 from it. Bangladesh are in a situation.
7th over: India 36-0 (Rahul 11, Rohit 23) A full one from Mustafizur hauls Rohit forward, and he unloads the suitcase at a drive, edging wide of slip for four as the ground spins around Tamim, grey, tessellating circles subsuming his vision. Two singles follow.
6th over: India 30-0 (Rahul 10, Rohit 18) Ker-nuck! Rohit, beaten by Saif’s first ball, larrups his third over extra cover for another six; poor Tamim. A single follows, then Rahul takes two through midwicket and everything about this smells huge.
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5th over: India 21-0 (Rahul 8, Rohit 11) After three dots, Rohit swipes across the line ... and running around the square leg fence, Tamim – Hebrew meaning, “Perfect” – is chugging along to pouch! Except he spills it and his team are now in world of trouble. That was so miserable it deserves its own Blackadderian extended metaphor: more miserable than Mark Hughes chopping onions, with The Champ tattooed onto his eyelids.
4th over: India 18-0 (Rahul 8, Rohit 9) Bit of swing for Saifuddin, who then beats Rahul with length and bounce. Two more dots follow one strays straight; Rahul turns it away, then Shakib dives over it and turns two into four.
3rd over: India 14-0 (Rahul 4, Rohit 9) Mustafizur replaces Mashrafe and concedes three singles. Already, Bangladesh need a wicket, because getting stuck into the middle order early is the only way they win this, save a ludcirous intervention by one of their batsmen.
“With everyone talking up Shakib,” says Matt Potter, “has it gone under the radar how brilliant a tournament Mushfiqur Rahim is having? Comfortably the highest run scoring keeper in the tournament and very few errors behind the stumps.”
2nd over: India 11-0 (Rahul 2, Rohit 8) Mohammad Saifuddin opens from the other end and is immediately into stride, bowling mainly full of and on a length. Rahul digs out his final ball for a single to square leg, the only run off the over.
1st over: India 10-0 (Rahul 1, Rohit 8) India avoid the ignominy of an opening-over maiden, Rahul easing Mashrafe for one to backward point. A wide follows, then a dot and a short one; Rohit deadbats it back to the bowler. Nah, not really. As if! He spanks it for six over deep backward square, then turns two to midwicket, and that’s a useful start. Also: is Rohit the coolest man in this competition? Virat is also a contender, but only if you define “cool” as “everything every human should be but can’t be”, rather than “calm, composed and with a mortifying yet inspiring presence”.
“What’s your take on a deliciously contrived result tomorrow?” asks Brian Withington. “A narrow win for England would almost certainly take NZ through on Net Run Rate. Adam Collins was intrigued by the prospect of cricket’s own version of the 1982 ‘Disgrace of Gijón’, when Austria and West Germany role-played out a 1-0 win for the latter that caused a furore that changed the playing format of all future World Cups. We won’t even mention Somerset’s declaration vs Worcester in the 1979 B&H after just one over as that wouldn’t help the NRR any more (and got Somerset retrospectively banned).”
There’s a game on tomorrow? I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, but were there to be one, we could be sure that both sides would go at it like meshuggeners.
“Batsmen in...”
The India anthem is a lowkey banger, and what I love about Bangladesh’s is that, like Stevie on Sesame Street, it shows no mercy. It’s got stuff it wants to say, and it’s saying it, properly and well.
Out come the teams!
There’s already a fairly decent racket in the ground, but it won’t feel like a proper atmosphere until there’s a band and people cheering their own taxed-from-football songs.
Do we need an England World Cup song, and who would sing it? An Alex and Dave duet?
It’s taken 12 minutes, but finally they’re showing us highlights of England-India. But I still see that sweep from Fat Gatt, Wasim castling Lamb, and Imran dancing...
Sky have some VT for Shakib, who says he’s not sure why it’s all going so well for him. He’s got himself fitter, but isn’t the only person working hard, which is to say asking someone good at something how they’re good at something is like nailing gold dust to the sea.
Two changes apiece: for India, Bhuvi replaces Yadav - Virat references that short boundary one more – and Karthik replaces Jadhav.
For Bangladesh, Mahmudullah doesn’t make it, and is replaced by Sabbir Rahman, and Rubel Hossain also plays, replacing Mehidy Hasan.
Mashrafe Mortaza would’ve batted too.
It’s a used wicket and got slower and slower on Sunday, plus it’s good to put runs on the board, apparently.
Accuse me of recency bias if you like, but I don’t think there’s ever been a competition quite like this one in one key aspect: we’ve not a clue who’s going to win it. Usually, we think we know even if we don’t, but if the last four turns out to be Australia, New Zealand, India and Pakistan, I’d feel confident laying New Zealand but wouldn’t have a clue about the rest.
I’m beginning to doubt that a box-room in north London is, in fact, the best place to spend today.
Bangladesh can certainly beat india at shouting....
Neither side is likely to alter much following their last match. India have the option of restoring Bhuvneshwar Kumar to their XI and I fancy they might, to shore up the batting as much as anything. He’d replace either Mohammed Shami, who bowled really well against England except when he didn’t or, given the flat track and asymmetric boundaries, either Kuldeep Yadav or Yuzvendra Chahal. My guess is that Chahal gets the chop.
As for Bangladesh, Mahmudullah, who hurt his calf against Afghanistan, is good to go.
The phrase “bad World Cup” is an oxymoron up there with “cool beard”, “orderly Brexit” and “young love”, but for a while, when it was raining and predictable, we were on the cusp. Now, though, as we complete the penultimate round of matches, we stand on the cusp of a jazzer for the ages. There is still only one side guaranteed a semi-final slot, with five others ruckusing for the remaining three - including both of those charged with enriching our Tuesday.
India are almost there – a win today or a win over Sri Lanka on Saturday is all they need. But suddenly, that “all” isn’t uttered quite as glibly as before. Their three champions – Rohit, Virat and Jasprit – should do enough, but aggravation against Afghanistan and defeat to England made clear that if they don’t, the others can’t be relied upon to intervene.
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