India failed to defend 186 runs despite reducing Bangladesh to 136/9 at one stage.
Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria slammed Rohit Sharma’s captaincy as Team India suffered a heartbreaking defeat of one wicket in the first ODI against Bangladesh, thanks to a late blitz by Mehidy Hasan in Dhaka on Sunday (December 4).
However, Kaneria was particularly critical of Rohit’s decision not to hand the ball to Washington Sundar when Bangladesh’s Mehidy (38*) was snatching the match from the Men in Blue on Sunday.
He was disappointed to see Rohit not using Sundar against the tailenders and Mustafizur Rahman despite scalping two wickets in five overs.
Danish Kaneria said on his YouTube channel: “On the field, the Indian captain Rohit Sharma took so many bad decisions. When were you going to bowl Washington Sundar, after returning to India? What was he doing, I just could not understand.”
Kaneria said that Sundar should have bowled his full quota of overs, as Mustafizur and Hasan stitched a record 51-run stand for the tenth wicket to win the match for Bangladesh.
He added, “Sundar had five overs left. Mustafizur Rahman is a left-hander and every U-16 or U-18 cricketer would know that against a left-handed tailender if you bowl an off-spinner, he will get you a wicket. Sundar would have got the ball to turn on the surface, but Rohit just did not want to bowl him.”