The International Cricket Council (ICC), the global governing body of the sport, was mercilessly trolled online following a massive gaffe during India vs Bangladesh's second ODI match in Mirpur on Wednesday.
The ICC's huge mistake came after the Bangladesh skipper emerged victorious at the coin toss and opted to bat at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
While sharing an update about this on its Twitter account, the ICC posted an image of the Canadian cricket team, leaving Bangladeshi and Indian supporters fuming.
As cricket lovers from around the world took cognizance of ICC's post which was later deleted, they hit out at the cricket body for committing such a gaffe.
“Can't believe this is the international body of cricket!” one cricket admirer posted on the microblogging platform.
“Shambolic at how they report each and every cricketing news with a clickbait heading,” a second claimed.
“This is now becoming a thread but ICC provides daily entertainment! Go Canada,” a third commented.
Another high day for ICC as they mix Bangladesh with Canada team this time. Yesterday they confused Women's player of the month nominees with Men's. Or someone is on his notice period? pic.twitter.com/3tzlD4tHOl
— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) December 7, 2022
Someone at ICC Digital must fancy Canada's chances of winning today's Bangladesh-India game pic.twitter.com/sLPwJXgbTv
— Rick Eyre on cricket (@rickeyrecricket) December 7, 2022
Coming back to the match, Team India suffered another heartbreak in the Bangladesh capital on Wednesday after they lost the match by five runs and thus the series 2-0 to the home team.
Batting first, Bangladesh found themselves on the ropes at 6/69 with India dominating the proceedings with the assistance of Washington Sundar's three wickets.
However, just when it looked like India was running away with the game, a blistering 148-run stand between Mahmudullah and Mehidy Hasan Miraz brought Bangladesh back into the game. After Mahmudullah perished for 77 in the 47th over, Mehidy Hasan Miraz gave the final push to the Bangladesh innings as 54 runs came off the last 23 balls.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz remained unbeaten on 100 off 83 deliveries and was the main hero of the Bangladeshi comeback.
In reply, Rohit Sharma and co found themselves in a deep hole at 4/65 with Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, and KL Rahul all back in the hut. Their problems were further accentuated due to Rohit Sharma's unavailability at the top of the order, the reason being a thumb injury.
A 107-run partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel stopped the rut but the asking rate kept mounting. Moments later, Team India was on the verge of defeat with the score reading 213/8. Just when everyone thought that the match was over, there was another twist in the tale as an injured Rohit Sharma walked into bat.
Despite an injury to the thumb on his left hand, Rohit Sharma played a brave knock as he began to hit the ball all over the ground and brought the equation down to 20 runs at the end of the 49th over.
With 20 needed to win the game in the final over, Rohit Sharma clobbered the second and third deliveries for boundaries, however, what made the situation tough for him was the dot ball Mustafizur Rahman bowled on the fourth.
With two sixes required to win India the match, Rohit Sharma struck the fifth delivery of the 50th over for a maximum but then Mustafizur Rahman produced an unplayable yorker on the last ball to claim a stunning victory.
Bangladesh skipper Litton Das was proud of his team's performance and called the series win over India a “dream come true”.
“Feeling very happy. Winning the series as captain – it's a dream come true. I decided that 240 would be enough in Mirpur. We lost six wickets but the way Miraz and Riyad bhai played was outstanding. The wicket played well in the second half and I just changed the bowlers. We are going for winning the match [in Chattogram],” Litton Das said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz who was named the Man of the Match for his world record century called it a “great moment” of his career.
“Last few years I've worked hard and I need to focus on particular areas. The coach gives me lots of information as to how to play in international cricket. He [Mahmudullah] is a senior guy and we just wanted to build a partnership. It was a great moment for me and while bowling I just tried the good areas,” Mehidy Hasan Miraz said.
Meanwhile, India captain Rohit Sharma gave an update on his thumb injury which he suffered while fielding in the Bangladesh innings. The 35-year-old eventually came out to bat at number 9 for India before smashing a 28-ball unbeaten 51 to bring the visitors close to victory in the final over of the contest.
“Honestly, the thumb is not too great. Some dislocation on the finger, but not a fracture, which is why I could come and bat,” Rohit Sharma said after India's second consecutive loss in the series.
“I think when you lose a game, there are positives and negatives… From 70 for 6 to allowing them to 270-odd was not a great effort from the bowlers. The middle overs and back end are hurting us – it hurt us in the first game as well,” he added.
“We need to focus on what we need to do as individuals but not taking anything away from Mehidy and Mahmudullah. But we need to learn how to break partnerships and that's something that will hold you in good stead,” Rohit Sharma elaborated.
In one-day cricket, it's all about partnerships like those guys did it. When you get 50, 70-run partnerships, you should make it 100-120 partnership. Having said that, we have a lot of things to look at and we need to be a bit brave and take more chances,” The Nagpur-born cricket star elaborated.
“Few injury concerns and we need to get to the bottom of it; maybe they're playing too much cricket. It's something we have to sit down with our team at NCA and try and monitor their workload. Can't afford to have half-fit players representing India,” Rohit Sharma concluded.
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