Former India cricketer Mohammed Kaif came down heavily on the team management after India’s loss to Bangladesh in the first ODI in Mirpur. India had hosts on the mat with the score reading 136/9 as they came out to chase 188. Despite this, the hosts managed to pull it through with Mehidy Hasan Miraj playing a blinder of a knock even as skipper Rohit Sharma was seen losing his cool. Meanwhile, Indian fielders also had a poor show; furthermore, keeper KL Rahul dropped a sitter of the match winner Mehidy Hasan in dying stages of the game.
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“It was India’s game, they had taken nine wickets. The bowling was excellent, they got India back into the game after the batters had a bad day. The bowling covered up for that until the 40th over, but the last 10 overs, who is our death bowler? Is it Deepak Chahar or Kuldeep Sen?”
“We dropped catches. KL Rahul doesn’t keep that often. He is a good fielder, he ran out Litton Das with a direct hit from the deep in the T20 World Cup. Sundar didn’t dive to try and take the catch,” Kaif told Hindustantimes.
He cited how teams like Australia and New Zealand are terrific fielding units and this helps soak the pressure in tense situation.
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“The fielders were seen under pressure. We made mistakes under pressure. We bowled wide balls and no-balls. You have to overcome pressure if you have to win the World Cup. That is how a team emerges, whether you talk about New Zealand or England, who are at the top in white-ball cricket.”
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“I am disappointed that we are crumbling under pressure. You can talk about captaincy or bowling changes. The game went well until the 40th over, but then came Mehidy Hasan Miraz and showed the Bangladesh batters how to play. But I feel the young bowlers couldn’t finish the game in the last 10 overs,” said Kaif.
Coming back into the match, Bangladesh’s last wicket pair of Mehidy Hasan Miraj and Mustafizur Rahaman pulled off an absolute heist with a thrilling 51-run stand as India choked during final half an hour to lose a low-scoring opening ODI by one wicket Sunday.
While India produced yet another poor batting show which saw them get all-out for 186 in 41.2 overs, the bowlers did a splendid job to reduce Bangladesh to 136 for 9 in the 40th over. However KL Rahul, who was entrusted with keeping duties to fit him and another veteran Shikhar Dhawan in the same XI, dropped an aerial sitter when Bangladesh still needed 32 runs.
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