T20 World Cup: India survive Litton scare to close in on a semi-final spot

KL Rahul began with extreme caution, and it was justified as Taskin Ahmed bowled a beautiful first over to keep the Indian vice-captain down to 1 from 5 balls. At 2 from 8 balls, India’s fans, by far the majority in the crowd, were growing restless. Then came a trademark whip from Rahul, a length ball on the stumps sailing over the on-side for six via a whip of the wrists.

The second boundary came off a thick outside edge an attempted shot over point going to the left of the thirdman fielder for a boundary. Hasan Mahmud gave Rahul a chance to make amends off the very next ball, and this time the flat square cut boomed off the middle of the bat over point for six. By now it was safe to say that Rahul was back in business.

Virat Kohli, who was at the crease with Rahul, began cheering his partner on and the former skipper had done a terrific job of easing the pressure till then, keeping the runs coming at his end. And yet, when India ended the powerplay, they had achieved a run rate of only 5.54, the second lowest in the tournament so far, behind only the United Arab Emirates.

Rahul then used his time and space at the crease wisely. He picked off the short balls and went right back into his crease in anticipation of the overcorrection, slicing a near yorker-length delivery from Shoriful Islam over point with a rapier-like swish of the blade. When Rahul brought up his fifty, off only 31 balls, he turned towards the Indian dressing room, acknowledging their cheers at the moment, but really thanking them for the support they showed in backing him to the hilt when the runs were not coming.

The other Rahul in the Indian camp was almost smiling, for only the previous day he had put up a stout defence of Rahul’s abilities and presence in the eleven at the top of the order. For some background: in 13 matches beginning with the Asia Cup in August, Rahul has averaged 27.33 at a strike rate of 121.03. But Dravid refused to concede that Rahul’s lack of runs, and more to the point his lack of fluency and attacking intent at the top of the order, had become a headache for the team.

Dravid pointed to a practice match against Australia before the start of the tournament in which Rahul was in fine touch against the likes of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. But, more than anything else, Dravid stressed that the management, and Rohit Sharma, the captain, were fully behind Rahul. Rahul was dismissed soon after he reached his half-century, but with support from his teammates — Kohli scoring yet another crucial busy half-century — India posted 184 for 6.

In reply, Bangladesh were off to a flyer as they raced to 66/0 in 7 overs. After the rain interruption, the target was reduced to 151 off 16 overs, but they still had all 10 wickets in hand and needed to score at their original ask of 9 an over. Then came a lethal throw from the deep, a direct hit that sent Litton Das back to the dressing room after an explosive 27-ball 60. The fielder? Rahul sealed his redemption with a kiss.

Bangladesh ran India hard, taking the game into the last over, but India just came together, supporting each other, taking their catches and bowling dry overs at crucial times, showing just why they are such a successful team and a force to reckon with, getting home by five runs.

BRIEF SCORES India 184/6 (Kohli 64* off 44, Rahul 50 off 32, Suryakumar 30 off 15; Mahmud 3/47, Shakib 2/33) beat Bangladesh 145/6 (Litton 60 off 27, Nurul 25* off 14; Hardik 2/28, Arshdeep 2/38) by 5 runs on DLS method