Team India suffered a heartbreaking one-wicket defeat at the hands of Bangladesh in a low-scoring first ODI in Dhaka on Sunday (December 4).
Invited to bat first, the Men in Blue were bundled out for a paltry 186 in 41.2 overs. KL Rahul was the top scorer with 73 off 70 balls.
In reply, the hosts were tottering at 136/9 in the 40th over. However, the duo of Mehidy Hasan (38* off 39 balls) and Mustafizur Rahman (10*) shared an unbeaten 51-run partnership for the last wicket to take Bangladesh over the finishing line with four overs to spare.
With this loss, India conceded a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series and the Rohit Sharma-led side will have to win the second game to stay alive in the series.
Ahead of the second ODI, former cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra said he is not worried about the Indian bowling attack.
“If you leave the last little while, the 51-run partnership should not have happened, of course, but they did pick up nine wickets before that. They bowled well and if Rahul had held on to the catch, it would have been over, Mehidy Hasan Miraz was only on 15 at that stage. So I am not too worried from the bowlers' viewpoint,” Chopra said while speaking on his Youtube channel.
He also batted for Akshar Patel’s inclusion in the playing XI in place of Shahbaz Ahmed because of the former’s batting ability.
“I don't see Shahbaz playing because I want to pack my batting a little more. So that is why I am saying play Akshar and Washington Sundar - five proper bowlers, where all of them get to get to bowl 10 overs apiece,” Chopra added.
Aakash Chopra showered rich praise on Mohammad Siraj, saying that the latter is capable of bowling well across formats.
“There is a special mention for Siraj, a lot of praise, because Siraj's career graph is going upwards. He is consistently bowling well. It seemed earlier that he is only a red-ball bowler but he is now consistently doing well with the white ball as well,” he remarked.
According to Aakash Chopra, both Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur could feature in the second ODI because of their batting prowess.
“You might see both Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur playing. Both give you options as all-rounders, both have swing. Deepak Chahar bowled extremely well with the new ball and Shardul came later and bowled very well. So the bowlers did a fairly decent job,” he stated.
The second ODI will be held at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka on Wednesday (December 7).
