India prevail in a cliff-hanger

The match looked like it was Bangladesh’s game before India crawled back with strikes at vital intervals. India batted first and finished at 146/7 and Bangladesh found themselves needing 11 off the final over and Mushfiqur Rahim managed to score two boundaries to calm the nerves. However, Hardik Pandya had the last laugh when he sent Rahim and Mahmudullah in two balls. 

With the equation reading two needed off one ball, Dhoni caught Mustafizur Rahim short of the crease when the batsman tried to steal a bye in the last ball and India scripted a thrilling win. 

Sent into bat after Mashrafe Mortaza called it spot on at the spin of the coin. India started on a cautious note as Mortaza changed five bowlers in the first five overs in an attempt to unsettle the scoring in the powerplay. 

With the wicket on the slower side, Mortaza started with Shuvagata Hom in the second over and Shikhar Dhawan made his intentions clear with a neat smack over deep midwicket for four. 

With the first five overs yielding only 27 runs, Rohit Sharma and Dhawan decided to up the ante. Mustafizur Rahman bowled in the slot outside off-stump and Sharma wasted no time and sent it over long-off for the first six of the Indian innings. Dhawan joined the party soon after and a half-volley from Rahman found the crowd again. 

In a desperate attempt to accelerate, Sharma perished in the last ball of the power play when he top-edged Rahman to midwicket. 

A loud cheer welcomed ‘local boy’ Virat Kohli and Shakib Al Hasan sent Dhawan back with a quicker one as the batsman stretched too far ahead and got his bat off the way and the ball thudded onto his boots. With the ball not coming on to the bat easily, the Indians found the going tough and managed to get to 59 in the first 10 overs. 

Al-Amin committed the ‘crime’ of dropping Kohli when the star batsman was on 11 and Raina added salt to Amin’s wound when he carted the bowler for back-to-back sixes. At that point, India had found the fence after a gap of 29 balls. 

Kohli looked out of sorts and a full toss from Hom got the treatment it deserved as the Delhi batsman sent it over deep midwicket. However, Hom had the last laugh as Kolhi found the LED stumps glowing after he missed a sweep. 

Dhoni promoted hard hitting all-rounder Hardik Pandya and the batsman repaid his captain’s faith in him with a six off Hom. 

Raina and Pandya tried to add some firepower but perished in the space of two balls with Soumya Sarkar pulling off a stunner at the boundary to send Pandya back. 

With wickets falling at regular intervals, it was hard for the new batsman, to judge the pace of this pitch, and with quick runs needed, India lost the plot. Yuvraj, Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja tried to accelerate in the end as India managed 34 runs in the last five overs losing four wickets. 

Chasing 147, Bangladesh started on a bright note when Jasprit Bumrah mis-fielded at short fine leg off the first ball from Ashish Nehra as the ball kissed the boundary ropes in a flash. A minor collision between Nehra and Iqbal did not deter the batsman as runs started to flow freely soon after. 

Bangladesh opened with Iqbal and Md. Mithun and pushed the out-of-form Soumya Sarkar down the order in a bid not to lose early wickets. However, Ravichandran Ashwin, bowling first change, sent Mithun back when he cleverly adjusted his length and made the batsman heave it to long-on where Pandya made no mistake. 

Bumrah’s bad day at office went to worse when he dropped Iqbal off Ashwin, in what should have been a sitter. The ensuing run got Sabbir Rahman on strike and he made the Indians pay for the dropped catch with a huge six off a pull shot. 

The rookie pacer’s worse day turned worst when Iqbal smashed him for four boundaries as he milked 16 runs in the last over of the power play. 

Dhoni introduced Jadeja in the seventh over and the spinner struck in the fourth ball when Dhoni was lightning quick to dislodge the bails as Iqbal’s foot was dangling in the air. 

Rahman and Shakib added quick runs and Bangladesh kept the required run rate in check, while finding the gaps easily. Raina and Jadeja eased the pressure a bit when they had Rahman and Mortaza back in the pavilion in quick time but Shakib belted a couple of balls into the stands to swing the game back to Bangladesh’s way. 

Ashwin then produced the big breakthrough when he made Shakib edge one to first slip off a slower one where Raina made no mistake. 

Mahmudullah and Sarkar then ensured Bangladesh passed the 100-run mark in the 15thover but Bangladesh snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as they ran out of ideas to lose in a thriller.

Brief Scores: India146/7 in 20 overs (Raina 30 (23), V Kohli 24 (24) and Mustafizur Rahman 2/34) beat Bangladesh 145/9 in 20 overs (Tamim Iqbal 35 (32), Sabbir Rahman 26 (15) and R Ashwin 2/20)

Player of the match: R Ashwin