India edged out Bangladesh in a thriller at the Adelaide Oval that went down to the wire. Small things contributed to the bigger cause as a complete team effort saw the Men in Blue survive a Litton Das onslaught and a wet outfield.
Incidentally, Litton Das's wicket is a great example of how India was better prepared than its opponents to deal with the soggy surface.
After play restarted post the rain interruption, the dangerous Das was run out because he slipped twice while taking the fatal two runs. Das presumably slipped because the spikes on his shoes were caked up with the mud and wet grass of the Adelaide Oval.
However, the Indian fielders never succumbed to the slippery conditions all thanks to throwdown specialist Raghavendra.
Fondly known as 'Raghu', the throwdown specialist prepped the Indian players for the restart of the game by cleaning the caked-up mud off their shoes.
This helped prevent the Indian players from slipping around on the field as Raghu continued to monitor the players' shoe health throughout the rest of the game. He walked around the boundary rope armed with a brush to regularly clean the fielders' shoes if needed.
This attention to detail probably helped India keep its balance on the field as the match headed to a tense conclusion.
Eventually, though, India crossed the finish line by just 5 runs but Raghu deserves credit for being the unsung hero in the crucial win against Bangladesh.
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