In a first of sorts for Team India as many as four qualified wicket keepers were in the playing 11 for the match against Bangladesh. MS Dhoni worked out in the company of Dinesh Kathik, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant all of them in after the Team India management decide to try out some new combinations. While Pant, in as replacement for Shikhar Dhawan, he is the second-youngest wicket-keeper and the first Indian wicket-keeper to score a Test century in England. Karthik, a batsman who took to wicket-keeping as a junior, debuted in the World Cup at age 34. He didn't get to play a match in 2007 as India was bundled out in early stages, but missed out in 2011 and 2015 editions by not being picked. KL Rahul, otherwise opening for India has been keeping wickets in the domestic circuit. Spoilt for choice, Dhoni could no wonder afford a two-over break early in the Bangladesh innings with Pant standing behind for him.
Tigers in stands
A smattering of Bangladeshi fans made their way to the stands on Tuesday as their nation made their last bid to survive in the tournament by trying to beat India. Though the pockets are not handsome enough for the most passionate of cricket fans in the world to travel from their country to unaffordable Pound land, most of those who have settled down in England and some from Europe came to support their team with all the colour, noise and their signature stuffed toy tigers to add colour and mirth to the stands. One of the Bangladeshi gentlemen, painted as a tiger top to bottom including the belt and jeans got so animated that he was spotted being escorted out of his original perch to some other destination which did not seem to be the stands by the look of it.
Tagore thread
A becoming National Anthem nugget for you. When the anthems of India and Bangladesh were played at the Edgbaston Cricket ground on Tuesday, one man was responsible for the lyrics of both, the great Rabindranath Tagore. Though Asia's first Nobel Laureate Tagore had long passed by the time Bangladesh was created in 1971, the nation adopted the first 10 lines of Tagore's celebrated poem 'Amaar Sona Bangla' which he composed when Bengal was divided in 1905 by the British Government. The first stanza of Tagore's Bharata Bhagyo Vidhata was adopted as India's national anthem 'Jana Gana Mana' in 1950. The anthem signifies the sharing of cultures by the two countries even as they fight tooth and nail in the middle today.