India’s report card vs Bangladesh: Rohit Sharma’s dream run continues, Pandya impresses with ball

Another day, another win and India sauntered into the semi-finals of the World Cup with a 28-run victory over Bangladesh. Virat Kohli and Co’s march continued and they will now be vying with Australia for the top spot in the table.

Certain themes, though, were familiar at Edgbaston on Tuesday: Rohit Sharma scored yet another hundred. Jasprit Bumrah didn’t offer the batsmen an inch, and Hardik Pandya got crucial breakthroughs. Some of India’s struggles also wore a look of deja vu. There will be question marks over the middle-order once again.

When Sharma was picking the Bangladesh bowlers apart, India looked set to cross the 350-run mark. Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman and Mohammad Saifuddin fought hard and on occasions, gave India a scare. But losing wickets at regular intervals meant that their chase fizzled out and with that, their chances of reaching the last four. Nonetheless, Shakib can look back at a truly historic campaign.

Here are our player ratings of the Indian players against Bangladesh:

KL Rahul

Batting: 77 from 92 balls

Rating 8/10

There was little that KL Rahul did wrong. He was happy to let Sharma play the shots and rotated strike well. Being a classy strokemaker himself, Rahul didn’t miss out on an opportunity to put away the bad ball. The 27-year-old hit six fours and a six as he bounced back from the England failure straight away. There were a couple of misfields in the boundary but overall, it was a neat display from Rahul.

Rohit Sharma

Batting: 104 from 92 balls

Rating: 9/10

Against Bangladesh, Sharma didn’t wait to see off the new ball, as was the case against England. Mashrafe Mortaza knew that the India vice-captain was on a mission to capitalise on the powerplay and hit a six in the very first over of the match. Sharma, though, got a repreive when he was on nine; Tamim Iqbal dropped a dolly at deep mid-wicket.

Then, the 32-year-old was on song and runs flowed all around the wicket. He didn’t let any of the bowlers settle down. Having not hit a single six during his previous hundred, here, it got five of them. Sharma deserves full points and his fifth World Cup century – fourth of the tournament – set India on course to victory.

Virat Kohli

Batting: 26 from 27 balls

Rating: 6/10

The India captain was looking in fluent touch and got off to a fine start. But the excellent Mustafizur Rahman got rid of him early, putting an end to a sequence of five half centuries. As a captain, Kohli scored with how he used Hardik Pandya and the all-rounder responded with crucial breakthroughs. Soumya Sarkar is a flashy strokemaker and the decision to put himself in the line of fire earned India their second wicket.

Pant, Rahul, Karthik, Bhuvneshwar and India’s search for the perfect combination – READ

Rishabh Pant

Batting: 48 from 41 balls

Rating: 7/10

After the start that Sharma and Rahul provided, Pant needed to blaze away and the youngster did middle a few, showing how destructive he can be when on song. Pant was closing in on his first ODI fifty when he was caught deep square-leg. In the two matches he has played so far, the southpaw has already left a mark and the Bangladesh match was tailor-made for his brand of batting. There is scope for improvement in Pant’s fielding and one saw him being tentative in the deep atleast twice during the game.

Hardik Pandya

Batting: 0 from 2 balls

Bowling: 10-0-60-3

Rating: 8/10

When his bat won’t get you, his ball will: This is something that used to be said about Kapil Dev three decades ago and Pandya is slowly becoming one one of the most influential members of this setup. His three wickets included that of Shakib and once again, the short deliveries are proving to be a potent weapon. His economy rate in this tournament is a touch under six but that shouldn’t be a concern as long as he is getting regular breakthroughs. He missed out with the bat today, though.

MS Dhoni

Batting: 35 from 33 balls

Rating: 6/10

Dhoni did struggle a bit and the big hits came at a premium at the death. Mustafizur, however, had his number in the final over. There were no glaring errors from the former captain behind the stumps. There are fans who crave for the Dhoni from a few years ago. Somehow, fluency has eluded the veteran all through this campaign. Here, he should have rotated strike better and showed more trust in Dinesh Karthik and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, both of whom are competent batsmen in their own right.

Dinesh Karthik

Batting: 8 from 9 balls

Rating: 5/10

Karthik was back playing his favourite opponent. Having made his internationl debut in 2004, this match, astonishingly was his first World Cup match; he was part of the 2007 squad but didn’t get a game as India crashed out early.

Karthik was unable to get the big hits going and his stay lasted just nine balls. By the time he had settled in, Mustafizur had swung the mometum back in his team’s favour. Overall, it was a quiet World Cup debut for Karthik and should get a game against Sri Lanka as well.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Batting: 2 from 3

Bowling: 9-0-51-1

Rating: 6/10

Not a bad return to the team at all. The zing and verve that was on display against South Africa and Australia, was missing. To be fair on Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he was back in the team after a lengthy absence. The medium pacer did go for a few runs but picked up Mortaza’s wicket in the closing stages of the match. With the batmsen taking the attack to him, there were times when he struggled with his length a bit.

Mohammad Shami

Batting: 1 from 2

Bowling: 9-0-68-1

Rating: 5/10

Shami picked up Tamim Iqbal’s wicket with with the opener chopping on but as was the case against England in the closing stages, the pacer went for runs galore in his final spell. At times, Shami was too short and even full and wide. After picking up 13 wickets in three games, this was a forgettable outing by Shami’s lofty standards. He needs to be closer to the stumps and try to get the ball back into the batsmen – that is when Shami is at his deadly best.

Jasprit Bumrah

Bowling: 10-1-55-4

Rating: 9/10

The pacer’s stuning rise continues and he finished with a four wicket haul, his best returns in the tournament. Millions of Indian fans held their breath when he tumbled over in pain while trying to cut off a boundary. Fortunately, he was back up on his feet minutes later. Fast, straight and targeting the stumps a lot more than he did against England, all four of Bumrah’s victims were out bowled. At the post-match press conference, the 25-year-old said that he would like to play the Sri Lanka game as well. He is quite easily India’s most loved bowler in decades and is going from strength-to-strength. This time, he had enough to show in the wickets column.