The mighty were so close to falling. Despite losing wickets, Bangladesh were still very much in the hunt, till the final ball. Had it not been for ‘Captain Cool’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s superb run out of Mustafizur Rahman with the visitors needing two runs off one ball, the home side would have had to taste defeat.
Hardik Pandya bagged the wickets of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah in the last over. Even then, Bangladesh retained a glimmer of hope till Dhoni sealed the deal. Bangladesh finished at 145 for nine in reply to India’s 146 in their World T20 match here on Wednesday.
The big hitting dried up as the Indian team struggled to pile on the runs. When Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya and Yuvraj Singh got out within the space of 20 runs, it looked all downhill. Thanks to Dhoni, the Indians put on a respectable score.
It has not been the typical batting-friendly M Chinnaswamy Stadium wicket this time around. In the matches played here before this game, big hitting was hardly there due to the ball not coming on to the bat and there being turn. Sure, the boundaries and sixes were there but just not to that extent.
That was evident from the start of the Indian innings. Put into bat, openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan had a tough start. After the duo got out, there was a bit of a lull as the new batsmen obviously found it difficult to score. Speedsters Al-Amin Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman conceded the highest among Bangladesh bowlers. The spinners did a better job and kept the Indian batsmen in check.
A lot was expected from Virat Kohli, for whom the Chinnaswamy is a home ground of sorts. The Royal Challengers Bangalore player was dropped on 11 by Al-Amin Hossain off his own bowling. But he was soon bowled by Shuvagata Hom for a-run-a-ball 24. The 19th over from Al-Amin Hossain yielded 14 runs which lent some respectability to India’s total.
Tamim Iqbal’s return to the team seemed to be working well for Bangladesh. In the sixth over from Jasprit Bumrah, Tamim thrashed him for four boundaries to pile on the runs. Tamim had been dropped by Ashish Nehra in the very first over off his own bowling and again in the fifth over by Bumrah off Ashwin.
Scoreboard
India: Rohit c Sabbir b Mustafizur 18, Dhawan lbw Al Hasan 23, Kohli b Hom 24, Raina c Rahman b Hossain 30, Pandya c Sarkar b Hossain 15, Dhoni (not out) 13, Yuvraj c Hossain b Mahmudullah 3, Jadeja b Rahman 12, Ashwin (not out) 5. Extras (lb 2, w 1) 3. Total (7 wickets, 20 overs) 146. Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2-45, 3-95, 4-112, 5-112, 6-117, 7-137. Bowling: Mortaza 4-0-22-0, Hom 3-0-24-1, Hossain 4-0-37-2, Rahman 4-0-34-2, Al Hasan 4-0-23-1, Mahmudullah 1-0-4-1.
Bangladesh: Tamim st Dhoni b Jadeja 35, Mithun c Pandya b Ashwin 1, Sabbir st Dhoni b Raina 26, Shakib c Raina b Ashwin 22, Mortaza b Jadeja 6, Sarkar c Kohli b Nehra 21, Mahmudullah c Jadeja b Pandya 18, Rahim c Dhawan b Pandya 11, Hom (not out) 0, Mustafizur (run out) 0. Extras (lb 4, w 1) 5. Total (for 9 wickets, 20 overs) 145. Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-55, 3-69, 4-87, 5-95, 6-126, 7-145, 8-145, 9-145. Bowling: Nehra 4-0-29-1, Bumrah 4-0-32-0, Ashwin 4-0-20-2, Jadeja 4-0-22-2, Pandya 3-0-29-2, Raina 1-0-9-1.