Sunil Gavaskar Gives Reason For India’s Loss To Bangladesh. It’s Not KL Rahul’s Dropped Catch

KL Rahul dropped Mehidy hasan’s catch in the first ODI against Bangladesh.© Twitter

India suffered a narrow one wicket loss to Bangladesh in the first ODI of a three-match series on Sunday. Bangladesh’s last wicket pair of Mehidy Hasan Miraj and Mustafizur Rahaman pulled off an absolute heist with a thrilling 51-run stand as India choked during final half an hour to lose a low-scoring opening ODI by one wicket in Mirpur on Sunday. While India produced yet another poor batting show which saw them get all-out for 186 in 41.2 overs, the bowlers did a splendid job to reduce Bangladesh to 136 for 9 in the 40th over.

However, KL Rahul, who was entrusted with keeping duties to fit him and another veteran Shikhar Dhawan in the same XI, dropped an aerial sitter from Miraj when Bangladesh still needed 32 runs. Washington Sundar also didn’t go for an easy catch at third man earning the wrath of skipper Rohit Sharma as Miraj (38 not out off 39 balls) along with Mustafizur (10 not out) got the team past the finishing line in exactly 46 overs.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has defended KL Rahul. “You can’t really say that was it. Because yes, I think that was the last wicket. That should have made the match over. But the fact that India scored 186, I think you are going to look at that as well,” Gavaskar told the Sony Sports Network.

“The bowlers did wonderfully well, to get themselves in a position where they were 136-9. And then Hasan Miraj came, they had a bit of luck with that drop catch, but he played really well. He played sensibly. They took the attack to the opposition and played some bold shots.

“When you are asked to chase less than four runs an over. Like Bangladesh were asked to chase, automatically, the pressure comes down. Bangladesh made it difficult for themselves by playing ultra-cautiously. That’s what got them into trouble. I think India didn’t score 70-80 more runs is the reason why they lost,” added Gavaskar.