India's risk-free batting and other things we learned from their Champions Trophy semi-final win over Bangladesh

Jaideep Marar 12:41 16/06/2017
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  • Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli during their unbeaten 178-run partnership.

    A good bowling display to restrict Bangladesh to 264-7, followed by some magnificent batting, saw India cruise into the final of the ICC Champions Trophy where they will face Pakistan.

    Here’s what we learned from the match.

    What did you make of India’s win? Share your thoughts, too – on Twitter or via Facebook.

    INDIAN BATSMEN RAISING PROFILE BY CUTTING DOWN ON RISKS

    Much has been written about the Indians having a strong batting line-up but what has been refreshing is the discipline that they have shown in building the innings. Openers Dhawan and Rohit, along with Kohli, have been doing it so well that they have ended up scoring the bulk of the runs for the team in their run to the final.

    Right from the opening match against Pakistan until the semi-final against Bangladesh, the top three batsmen have cut out the frills early in their innings and given more importance to stability. It paid rich dividends in the first game when both Dhawan and Rohit, returning to the team on the back of poor form and fitness, did not play a false shot for the most part of their innings and went on to get some much-needed runs under their belt.

    Kohli struggled initially against Pakistan and South Africa but he overcame his weakness to deliveries outside the off-stump early in the innings by logging scores of 81 not out and 76 not out respectively.

    The placid pitches have been an able ally as fast bowlers have found it difficult to hit the right length in the absence of swing. Since they are very good players of spin bowling, dealing with the spinners has also not been much of a problem.

    So, Kohli and co. have made the most out of the conditions in England with some self-restraint and it has yielded fantastic results.

    BANGLADESH’S BOWLING WAS TOOTHLESS

    The Bangladesh batsmen had done a decent job to put 264 runs on the board and the onus was on their bowlers to test the high-profile Indian batting. But on an Edgbaston pitch ideal for batting, the Bangladesh bowlers fared poorly – allowing the Indians to run away with the game.

    The way Bangladesh bowled, they would not have been able to defend even 364. Barring Mortaza and to a certain extent left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan, none of the bowlers caused any concern for the Indians.

    They did not do anything out of the ordinary to stop the rampage unleashed by Dhawan, Rohit and Kohli.

    Young Mustafizur Rahman was the biggest disappointment as the left-arm pacer was expected to cause trouble with his off-cutters and slower deliveries. But he fared the worst, conceding the maximum boundaries (nine fours and one six) and runs (53) from six overs.

    Mortaza hit the right lines and returned the most economical bowling figures but his tactical moves made no impact on the Indians. The Bangladesh captain’s decision to bowl eight overs on the trot was also puzzling as it meant that he did not trust the rest of the pace pack at the start.

    It was Bangladesh’s best chance to come up with a fighting display against a strong Indian team and also to justify their march into the semi-finals, which had come on the back of just one victory. But they made a mess of it and surrendered meekly.

    WHAT ASHWIN COULDN’T, JADHAV DID

    Ravichandran Ashwin looked off-colour as he was the second-most expensive Indian bowler on Thursday.

    Playing his first match in the tournament against South Africa, the 30-year-old appeared to have adapted quickly to the pitches in England after he was excluded from India’s playing eleven in the first two matches. In that game, he bowled nine overs for 43 runs and took the important wicket of Hashim Amla. He varied his speed well and bowled a lot of slower deliveries keeping in mind the placid nature of the pitch.

    However, against Bangladesh on a similar surface, he bowled a lot quicker and there were too many loose balls. No wonder that he was punished forcing captain Virat Kohli to fall back upon Kedar Jadhav.

    Surprisingly, Jadhav who bowls off-spin with a sling-arm action proved to be a much more effective option than Ashwin. What Jadhav did was bowl a lot slower and the Bangladesh batsmen tried hard to score off him but the slowness of his deliveries not only denied them runs but also forced them to commit mistakes.

    It was all evident in Mushfiqur Rahim’s dismissal as the wicketkeeper-batsman who was going strong on 61 drilled a full toss from Jadhav straight into the hands of Kohli at mid-wicket.

    Jadhav went on to log the match’s best bowling figures of 6-0-22-2 and more importantly has given Kohli a much-needed bowling option.

    Kedar Jadhav celebrates with Virat Kohli after taking a wicket [Getty Images]

    Kedar Jadhav celebrates with Virat Kohli after taking a wicket.

    PLAYING JUST FIVE BOWLERS IS A RISKY MOVE FROM INDIA

    India’s plan of going in with just five bowlers came apart against Sri Lanka and it almost went the same route against Bangladesh.

    While Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya were clobbered by the Sri Lankan batsmen, it was the turn of Ashwin to be on the receiving end in the semi-final.

    Jadeja managed to bounce back with a much better showing following his poor show (6-0-52-0) in India’s surprising defeat at the hands of Angelo Mathews and co., but Pandya has struggled to find his mojo with the ball.

    The Gujarat all-rounder who bowled seven overs for 51 runs against Sri Lanka, was the most expensive Indian bowler (10-0-52-1) in the next game against South Africa but fared his worst against Bangladesh where his four overs went for 34 runs (he did get Tamim Iqbal bowled off a no-ball and had a catch dropped off his bowling). With Ashwin too proving a tad expensive (10-0-54-0), Kohli had to fall back on the off-spin of Kedar Jadhav.

    Luckily for Kohli and India, Jadhav proved successful but to rely on the Pune batsman every time to bail the side out is expecting too much. Jadhav can at best be a stop-gap arrangement but if Kohli is keen to throw the ball to him for a few overs then it is better to have a regular bowler in place of Pandya as the Indian skipper will have better options.

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