|| CF Correspondent ||

Bangladesh head coach Steve Rhodes insisted that toss played a vital factor during the game against England.

‘’Yeah, I think, in the defense of some of the batsmen, the toss was crucial. You saw there, as you saw in the England match, that the cutters and the slower balls were quite difficult,’’ Rhodes told reporters after the match.

‘’When you get out to a slower ball and you chip it up into the ring, it looks a really soft dismissal, but sometimes you've got to give credit for the bowlers for deceiving the batsman and also sometimes the wicket. The wicket obviously proved to be a little bit more difficult in the second innings,’’ he said.

Bangladesh lost by 28 runs against India in a must-win match to secure the semifinal berth. Batting first India piled up 315 runs which proved to be enough to beat the Tigers as they fell short of 28 runs in the end.  Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to bat first at this important clash. Winning the toss was a crucial part of this contest as the match was played in a used pitch in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

India and England played in this same pitch on Sunday. In that match, England batted first and accumulated 337 runs on the board and India in the second innings fell short by 31 runs.

 In the second innings used pitch gets slower and becomes difficult to bat on. India exploited that opportunity very well in the second innings as Yuzvendra Chahal’s leg spin and Hardik Pandya’s slow bouncers were difficult for the Bangladeshi batsmen to get away.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza also wanted to bat first in this important match. But the luck didn’t favor Mashrafe in this World Cup as he just won twice in the toss among Bangladesh’s eight matches. Mashrafe wanted to put runs on the board and put pressure on the Indian batting line up with Shakib al Hasan’s spin and Mustafizur Rahman’s cutter in the second innings.