West Indies virtually knock out Bangladesh with 3-run win, stay alive in T20 World Cup
Sharjah, Oct 29: Defending champions West Indies kept alive their slender hopes of making the semifinals while virtually knocking Bangladesh out of the T20 World Cup with a narrow three-run win here on Friday.
Asked to set a target for the third consecutive time in the tournament, West Indies posted 142 for seven with Nicholas Pooran's 40 off 22 balls being the highlight of their innings.
The wicketkeeper batter hit four sixes and one four.
Roston Chase (39), making his T20 international debut, was the other chief contributor with the bat.
In reply, Bangladesh could manage 139 for five in 20 overs as all West indies bowlers picked one wicket each.
With no points from three matches, Bangladesh are out of the tournament, while West Indies can still sneak into the semifinals, provided they win their remaining matches and other results go in their favour.
Bangladesh began the chase on a poor note, losing openers Mohammad Naim (17) and Shakib Al Hasan (9), who was limping, in the first six overs. But gradually picked up the momentum with wicketkeeper batter Liton Das (44 off 43) taking the initiative.
West Indies, like Bangladesh, were sloppy in the field and the two-time champions were also guilty of missing as many as three run out opportunities.
With 50 need off the last six overs with six wickets in hand, skipper Mahmudullah (31 not out) and Das looked to be in control, converting ones into twos while also hitting boundaries regularly.
Dwayne Bravo (1/36) produced a conducive 17th over, giving away just three runs. In the first ball of the penultimate over, he was hit for a six by Mahmudullah but the veteran all-rounder proved his mettle by getting rid of danger-man Das in his final ball.
Needing 13 of the last over, Mahmudullah failed to clear the boundary even once despite being dropped by substitute Andre Fletcher in the fourth ball to bring down the equation to four off the last ball.
But Andre Russell (1/29) bowled a gem of a final delivery full outside the off stump, denying Mahmudullah any chance to free his arms to seal a close win for West Indies.
Earlier, Pooran hit four sixes and one four while Chase (39) was the other chief contributor with the bat.
Aware of West Indies struggle against spin, Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah handed the ball to off-spinner Mahedi Hasan (2/27) to open the innings, putting pressure on the Caribbean team.
After a few overs of pace, bringing back spin in the fifth over paid immediate dividends with Hasan getting the big wicket of Chris Gayle (4) as Bangladesh gave away just 29 runs while picking two wickets in the Powerplay.
In his next over, right after he put down Chase of his bowling, Hasan snared Shimron Hetmyer's (9) wicket.
Kieron Pollard (14 not out) and Chase tried to repair the innings before the skipper retired ill in the 13th over.
The reasons for his walking out at that stage were not clear but he came back in the final over to hit a last ball six after seven batter of his side were packed off.
In the very next ball, Andre Russell (0) was run out without facing a ball as things went from bad to worse for the West Indies.
Then on West Indies got some rub of the green when Chase was dropped once again by Hasan at deep mid-wicket before Bangladesh missed a stumping opportunity against Pooran.
The momentum slightly changed in the West Indies favour as Chase and Pooran plundered 14 runs off the 15th over.
Pooran continued the assault as he hammered Shakib Al Hasan for back-to-back sixes.
Jason Holder too pitched in with an unbeaten five-ball 15.
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India should create strategic buffers to navigate 'most difficult' energy shock: CEA Nageswaran
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Saturday said India needs to create strategic buffers in the face of the "most difficult" energy shock that the country is facing amid the West Asia crisis.
Nageswaran also said the rising prices of fertiliser and petroleum products globally due to the crisis will make it challenging to achieve the 4.3 per cent fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal, while below normal monsoon and pass-through of higher energy prices could lead to "potential inflation spike".
He also said India has employment challenge emanating from AI, and there is a need to ensure that IT sector becomes more competitive and not lose jobs to AI, and instead create jobs that use AI within the IT sector or in other services.
Speaking at the ICPP Growth Conference organised by the Ashoka University, Nageswaran said the current account deficit (CAD) in the current fiscal could rise to over 2 per cent of GDP, from less than 1 per cent in FY'26.
"The ... priority for us is to create strategic buffers. This energy shock is the most difficult one compared to any other previous energy shock in terms of energy lost as a percentage of total global energy supply, not just oil, including gas.
"And we also need to use this occasion to think about other areas where we are vulnerable in terms of import dependence, nickel, tin, and copper. We need to build strategic buffers if we have to make a shot at manufacturing and becoming indispensable," Nageswaran said.
Since the beginning of the war in West Asia on February 28, crude oil prices soared to a four-year high of USD 126 per barrel on Thursday, from about USD 73 level before the war.
Stating that geopolitics will compel policymakers to be nimble and flexible and shed old model of thinking, Nageswaran said India is better prepared than many other countries to deal with the crisis because of the fiscal leeway that the country has due to lowering of fiscal deficit ratio to 4.4 per cent of GDP in FY'26.
Nageswaran said the West Asia conflict is more of a price shock than supply shock for India as the government is managing the supply side deftly.
"This particular conflict, which is going to be on a low simmer or a high flame situation, whatever it is, it is going to be there with us in some form or the other because the military conflict may be over, but the strategic conflict is well and truly alive. It will be so for some time," Nageswaran said.
He said the conflict has four channels of shock: price and supply shock, trade impact, sticky logistics costs and remittance shock.
India imports 60 per cent of its LPG usage and of that, 90 per cent flows through the now closed Strait of Hormuz.
Nageswaran said the pass-through of high global energy prices would have to be a "balancing act". He said some pass-through is already happening in commercial LPG, and the levy of export duty on diesel and ATF.
The government has cut excise duty on petrol and diesel to shield customers from the impact of the rise in petroleum prices. "We are coming around to arriving at a certain modus vivendi with respect to burden-sharing between the fiscal policy side, inflation, households and the oil marketing companies. So it has to be a balancing act," Nageswaran said.
