Indian team bowling has always been its weakest link, especially in the limited-overs formats and often it has been the batting that has won the team games against big teams and often many times against minnows as well.
In the recent Asia Cup 2023 match against Nepal, India which was playing its maiden ODI against the neighbors, had them by the sword at one stage. After India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bowl first, it was expected that Nepal would be shot out pretty quickly.
Opener Aasif Sheikh made 58 and Gulsan Jha made 23, with Dipendra Singh Airee making 29 runs, but Nepal was in trouble at 194/7. Then Sompal Kami hammered 48 runs in 56 balls, enabling Nepal to make 230 runs in 48.2 overs.
Indian bowlers failed to finish out a minnow side like Nepal, though Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja picked three wickets each.
Here we look at three similar instances when the Indian bowling unit failed against a minnow side and even ended up on the losing side.
Check out the 3 Instances When Indian Bowling Struggled Against Minnows:
1. India vs. Hong Kong, Asia Cup 2018
India vs. Hong Kong Asia Cup 2018. (Photo Source: Tharaka Basnayaka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The match was part of the Asia Cup 2018 tournament, which was played in Dubai. The match was seen as a David vs. Goliath encounter as India had made short work of Pakistan in their group and was on a role.
India was asked to bat first by Hong Kong captain Anshuman Rath and the Men in Blue posted 285/7 with Shikhar Dhawan hammering 127 runs. Ambati Rayudu made 60, while Dinesh Karthik (33) and Kedar Jadhav (27*) contributed to the final total as well.
Many expected the experienced bowling lineup of the Indian team to steamroll the Hong Kong batting. But what happened next was a total surprise. The Hong Kong openers Nizakat Khan and Anshuman Rath took the attack to Indian bowlers featuring Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, and the two spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, respectively.
Nizakat Khan made 92 runs and Rath made 73, as the duo added 174 runs for the first wicket in 34 overs and many thought that an upset was on the cards.
However, the two batters fell within one over of each other and then the Indian bowlers managed to keep Hong Kong to 259/8 and barely managed a win by 26 runs. It was a total failure of Indian bowlers who took the opposition batting lightly on a batter-friendly wicket.
2. India vs Zimbabwe, Tri-series, 2010
India vs Zimbabwe 2010. (Photo Source: DESMOND KWANDE/AFP via Getty Images)
This encounter was between Zimbabwe and India from the Tri-series in 2010, which also involved Sri Lanka. This was the first match of the series which was played in Bulawayo, on May 28, 2010.
Suresh Raina captained India and won the toss and chose to bat first. India had lost three early wickets including that of Virat Kohli, who was run out for a duck without even facing a ball. Then Rohit Sharma scored 114 with 4 sixes and 6 fours and Ravindra Jadeja made 61 runs as India posted 285/5 in 50 overs.
India had bowlers like Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, and others and it was expected that 285 was a decent total that could be easily defended against Zimbabwe. However, opener Brendon Taylor had other ideas as he laid a very good foundation with 81 runs and got support from fellow opener Hamilton Masakadza, who made 46 and added 88 runs for the opening wicket.
Craig Ervine then made 67 and with 32 from Charles Coventry and contributions from Greg Lamb (27) and Elton Chigumbura (24*) Zimbabwe won the game with 10 balls to spare and 6 wickets in hand. It was a series to forget for the Indian team who managed only one win against Sri Lanka and lost to Zimbabwe once again later in the series and failed to make it into the final.
3. Bangladesh vs. India, 2nd ODI, Mirpur, 2022
Bangladesh vs. India, 2nd ODI 2022. (Photo Source: MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
India had won the first ODI of the three-match series against Bangladesh and was looking for a series win in the country after losing their previous 50-over series in 2015 to the Tigers. The Bangladesh captain, Litton Das, had won the toss and chosen to bat first, a decision he came to regret, as Mohammed Siraj and Umran Malik, along with Washington Sundar quickly reduced to them 69/6, at one stage.
India had hoped to bundle them under 100 and pocket an easy win, but then Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mahmudullah came together and added 148 runs for the 7th wicket. Mahmudullah fell for 77 runs, but Mehidy continued hammering the Indian bowlers as runs leaked continuously.
Mehidy Hasan became the first Bangladeshi batter to hit a century, his maiden in ODIs, from no.8 position as Bangladesh recovered well to post 271/7 in 50 overs. This was an utter failure of Indian bowlers especially when they had Bangladesh done and dusted at one stage.
In reply, India lost wickets at the regular intervals despite 82 from Shreyas Iyer and 56 from Axar Patel as India needed 61 runs from the last 6 overs when skipper Rohit Sharma walked in with a broken thumb. He proceeded to smash 51* in 28 balls with 5 sixes and 3 fours, but India could only manage 266/9 and lost the match by 5 runs.