Impressed by India’s dominant T20I win on Sunday, former Pakistan batsman Just Ali also wondered what happened to the Bangladesh team that registered a historic Test series win in Pakistan before leaving for India.
“Is this the same Bangladesh team that beat Pakistan (2-0)? You saw in the Test matches (against India). They lost the first one and then were defeated for almost two days, even the rain could not save them,” said 53-year-old Basit.
India beat Bangladesh by 280 runs in the Test in Chennai and then won in Kanpur by seven wickets despite two rain-washed days to sweep the series 2-0.
Basit was particularly delighted with India’s reserve power, saying the Indian Premier League (IPL) team of young stars, led by Suryakumar Yadav, made Bangladesh look like an “appetizer”.
“India has changed cricket (with their dominance). Bangladesh is just an appetizer (for them),” Basit said.
The T20I retirements of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja have opened up places in the playing XI.
“Yeh IPL eleven hai, India ki team nahi hai,” Basit said, before pointing out the notable absences of India’s playing eleven in the match in Gwalior. “There was no (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, no (Shubman) Gill, no Axar Patel, no Rishabh Pant, no (Shreyas) Iyer; (Ravi) Bishnoi did not play. And yet they bowled them in just 11-odd overs, ending with a six from (Hardik) Pandya.”
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India gave two debuts for the match with a fast bowler Mayank Yadav and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy making his international debut.
After thrashing Bangladesh for 127, India raced home in 11.5 overs for a seven-wicket victory to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Arshdeep Singh (3 off 14) and Varun Chakravarthy (3 off 31) picked up three wickets each, while Hardik top scored for the hosts with his strike-packed 39 off 16 balls, including 5 fours and 2 sixes.
“Why did Suryakumar Yadav choose to play after winning the toss?” wondered Basit. “They had to bat on this flat track by 200 runs. I don’t think they will make that mistake in the second game.”
Basit was happy to see Mayank firing the speed gun and hoped he would stay fit for India’s tour of Australia. The fast bowler began his stint in the international arena with a maiden while bowling at top speed.
“There were two debuts but this was a dream debut for Mayank Yadav. The former was first up, including a 149.8km/h delivery. He couldn’t manage the high 150km/h just because he has just recovered from injury,” Basit said
“Darr baithaya usne aaj (he sent the scare). The batsmen were always on the back foot. I pray this kid stays fit and goes on the Australian tour.
“Mayank, (Mohammed) Shami, (Jasprit) Bumrah, (Mohammed) Siraj — four pacers. Banaye Australia bouncy wicket, phir pata chalega (let them prepare bouncy pitches and find out).
After the T20I series against Bangladesh, India will host New Zealand for a three-Test series before flying to Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy, which will be contested over a five-Test series.
