T20 Cricket: Fans Defy Delhi Pollution, Bangladesh Tigers Register First Ever Win Against India!

About 25000 cricket fans defied severe levels of pollution and thronged the Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi on the evening of 3^rd November, 2019. Their love for the game and eagerness to support their team prevailed over pollution; as it were, to vindicate BCCI President Sourav Ganguly’s decision to go ahead with the match. The efforts taken by the authorities try cut down the pollution level around the stadium were eye-catching; in the sense that no such devotion is as yet to be seen to save the common people of the national capital from AQI levels that reached over 500-mark in some places. Well, this is cricket in India—and the money involved with the game!

Now over to the cricket played. The defying fans were ultimately disappointed with their home team’s efforts, and Bangladesh somewhat easily won the first T20I match by 7 wickets. In nine T20I marches played so far between the two sides this was the first ever win for Bangladesh, and that too in India. The joy of the conquering Tigers, obviously, knew no bounds, and they deserved to win in the final analysis, overwhelming India in all the departments of batting, bowling and fielding. Winning the toss was a distinct advantage for the visitors; however, their bowling was far more disciplined with their captain trying as many as 8 bowlers and keeping India in check from the beginning. Their win is more significant due to the fact that two seasoned players—former skipper Shakib Al Hasan who was banned by the ICC for two years from all cricket, later one year pardoned, for breaching the anti-corruption code which will prevent him from playing the ICC T20 World Cup to be played in Australia from 18^th October, 2020, and Tamim Iqbal who pulled out for personal reasons—were not in the team. For India, Rohit Sharma captained as Virat Kohli was rested for the T20 series. 

For the cricket lovers the Indian experimentation proved to be a bigger set-back than the pollution. We had seen earlier how the Indian cricket management indulged in mindless experiments with the playing eleven for two years prior to the ICC Cricket World Cup-2019 that finally saw Indian losing to New Zealand in the semi-final. With the ICC T20 World Cup coming up next year this kind of experimentation (more of this in my next piece coming up ‘IPL; A Liability or Asset?’ in this space soon) is well anticipated. However, fielding a totally inexperienced team, particularly in the bowling department, against a formidable side like Bangladesh, was a fatal mistake that cost Team India the match. We can only hope that the ‘experimentation’ doesn’t go mad trying just anybody considering only their IPL record. And most of all, we must congratulate Bangladesh for their brave victory against India in India. The competitive spirit is set to get heated up in the next two T20I matches between the two countries.