Sunil Gavaskar said Bangladesh batters should have played smart cricket against India.
Sunil Gavaskar questioned Bangladesh batters’ attitude while chasing the revised target against India in their Super 12 clash at the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2022 on Wednesday (November 2), as the Tigers suffered a heartbreaking defeat of 5 runs via DLS method at the Adelaide Oval.
Initially chasing a target of 185 in 20 overs, Bangladesh started well with their score of 66/0 in seven overs, and even they were 17 runs above the DLS par score when rain interrupted the Super 12 clash at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.
But after the play resumed, Bangladesh batters couldn’t find a way to score against the Indian bowling attack and fell five runs short of the revised target of 151 from 16 overs against the Men in Blue in a thrilling Super 12 match.
After the match, Indian cricket legend Gavaskar reckoned that the Bangladesh batters were seen panicking when they returned to the field after the play resumed, and it cost them the match against India.
The former Indian captain said that the Tigers should have played cautiously and smart cricket and tried to rotate the strike and keep up with the required run rate while chasing the revised target in Adelaide.
Sunil Gavaskar told India Today: “Oh absolutely, at that particular point in time, they were 66 in seven, so we are taking about more than nine runs per over and they were scoring quite comfortably with 10 wickets in hand. And suddenly, when the target was reduced by almost 33 runs, they somehow seemed to have panicked. The asking rate was still the same as when they began their innings.”
He added, “Instead of playing smart cricket, they tried to hit a six just about every ball, trying to target the short square boundaries. The Indians bowled cleverly, just out of the arc of the big shots. Hence, the shots, which otherwise would have gone for sixes were caught at long on and deep mid-wicket.”
Gavaskar signed off by saying, “I would say Bangladesh lost the game rather than India winning the game. Yes, India kept their nerves, but it was Bangladesh’s batting where they panicked and tried to play too many glory shots. If they had played smart cricket, worked the ball around for twos, they would have got 10 runs an over and that's all that they needed.”