Japan had put fear into India

India led by Shreyas Iyer has beaten Japan by only 2 runs in a 5-over match. The gap in the positions of the two teams in the world ranking is huge. Not even a speck of that gap was seen on the field. Rather India had come under real pressure in the bowling of Japan.

India and Japan faced each other for the first time in international cricket in Sano today. The play could not be started at the scheduled time due to rain. The match that took the field almost three and a half hours later was finally reduced to five overs.

Japan came under trouble right at the start after going down to chase the target of 33 runs given by India in 5 overs. They lost 2 wickets for only 7 runs in 1.4 overs. Opener Lachlan Yamamoto Lake scored 1 run and was run out. And Washington Sundar dismissed Ibrahim Takashi. This top-order batter of Japan scored 4 runs including one four in 3 balls.

Japan gave the indication of returning to the match by collecting 10 runs from Ravi Bishnoi in the third over. Japanese captain Kendall Kadowaki Fleming hit a four in that over.

However Washington dismissed Fleming for 12 runs on the last ball of the fourth over. Japan’s collection stood at 25 runs for 3 wickets after the end of 4 overs. 8 runs were needed in the last over.

Akshar Patel came to bowl the last over for India and gave a dot on the first ball itself. Middle-order batter Benjamin Ito Davis took a single on the second ball. Akshar gave a wide on the third ball. The Indian left-arm spinner also gave a wide on the next ball. However the umpire later withdrew the signal of the wide.

At one stage Japan’s need stood at 4 runs on the last ball. But wicketkeeper batter Shirai Patamore could take only 1 run even after sloging. Japan stopped at 30 runs in 5 overs. As a result India got a breathless win by 2 runs.

Earlier India went down to bat after winning the toss. They scored 32 runs by losing 4 wickets in 5 overs. Captain Shreyas Iyer scored the highest 16 runs for the team. One four came from his bat in the innings of 12 balls.

The match was supposed to start at 10am Bangladesh time. But the umpires inspected the field in phases due to rain. Finally the play started at 1:05pm and the match was reduced to five overs.

Iyer has also become the player of the match by playing an innings of 16 runs. However the fight of Japan has given birth to more discussion than the relief of India’s win. The team that is much behind in terms of strength had kept India under pressure till the last ball.