“IPL k sher, real cricket me dhair” - Twitterati bash Team India after they lose ODI series to Bangladesh

Team India lost the second ODI against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka by five runs on Wednesday, December 7. With their second defeat in as many games, they conceded the three-match series with a fixture to spare. This was their second successive ODI series loss in Bangladesh after their 1-2 defeat under MS Dhoni in 2015.

Batting first after winning the toss in the second ODI, Bangladesh recovered from a precarious 69/6 to post a highly competitive 271/7. Mehidy Hasan Miraz (100* off 83) smashed his maiden hundred in the format and featured in a 148-run stand for the seventh wicket with Mahmudullah (77 off 96).

In reply, Team India slipped to 65/4 before a fifth-wicket stand of 107 between Shreyas Iyer (82 off 102) and Axar Patel (56 off 56) kept them in the hunt. Skipper Rohit Sharma, who had hurt his hand while fielding, batted at No. 9 and clobbered a valiant 51* off 28 balls. His efforts went in vain, though, as Bangladesh held their nerves to register a close victory.

While a number of cricket fans hailed Rohit’s heroic effort, they also bashed the Men in Blue for coming up with a shoddy overall performance.

Here are some reactions from Twitter to Team India’s ODI series defeat in Bangladesh:

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“Wasn't a great effect from our bowlers” - Team India skipper Rohit Sharma

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Indian captain Rohit admitted that the bowlers did a poor job of allowing Bangladesh to recover from 69/6 and post 271.

Reflecting on the disappointing performance, he commented:

“When you lose a game, there are positives and negatives. From being 69/6, allowing them to get to 270-odd wasn't a great effect from our bowlers. We started well but the middle overs and the back end is what's hurting us a lot. Happened in the last game as well. It's something we need to work on.”

Giving due credit to Mehidy and Mahmudullah for their brilliant partnership, Rohit added that Team India need to find ways of breaking such partnerships. He elaborated:

“In one-day cricket, it's about partnerships and when you get those, you have to ensure that they are converted to match-winning partnerships. That's what they did. If you get those 70-run stands, you need to convert them into 110-120 run partnerships for the team to win games, as it isn't easy for the new batter. Need to be braver in the middle.”

The third match of the India-Bangladesh one-day series will be played in Chattogram on Saturday, December 10.