Let’s be honest: this World Cup desperately needs a close match. And there’s always a role for dramatic ritual, so I’d keep it. Captains might want to hold their thoughts back and keep opponents guessing, which might be undermined by a chummy pre-match agreement. I have thought about it and would still go ahead with the toss, I think. “Bangladesh wants to bat – India says they would have bowled In such a scenario, can we do away with the toss? Think about it,” says Krishnamoorthy. There are still huge queues outside the stadium.
A push through the offside for a single gets Tanzid and Bangladesh off the mark but the openers are watchful against Bumrah’s zip and fizz, and their apprehension is justified by a beautiful away-swinger that nips off the seam and beats Litton outside off. So the ever-potent Jasprit Bumrah gets the new ball at the far end, and begins with what we might call a loosener and stricter umpires would have called a wide, drifting way outside the left-handed Tanzid’s off stump.
1st over: Bangladesh 1-0 (Tanzid 1, Das 0).
