World T20: India win a thriller against Bangladesh to keep semis hopes alive
In arguably the best match of the World Twenty20 2016 so far, India held their nerves and picked up three wickets on last three deliveries to beat Bangladesh by 1 run in a nailbiter and keep their hopes of reaching semi-finals alive. Defending a modest 146, India, thanks to some good luck and poor cricket from Bangladesh, managed to restrict the Tigers to 145 for 9. With this win, India now have four points and are second in Group 2 points table.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah had the match at visitors mercy. With 11 needed off the final over, Rahim did the difficult part as he struck Pandya for two back-to-back boundaries. Needing just two to win off last three balls, Bangladeshis shot on their own foot as they didn’t manage to score even one run in the last three deliveries.
Despite needing two from last three deliveries, Rahim tried to to clear the fence and was caught in the deep by Shikhar Dhawan. In the very next delivery, despite seeing his partner committing a suicide on the previous ball, Mahmudullah went one step further as he lobbed a full-toss straight at the deep mid-wicket to Ravindra Jadeja. Leaving Bangladesh needing two runs off the last ball. It was a wide ball outside off and the batsman missed and attempted to run a bye, Dhoni ran towards the stumps and dislodged the bales and with that India made a stunning fight back to restrict Bangladesh to 145/9 in 20 overs.
Earlier, Bangladesh got off to a bad start as R Ashwin, who was brought into the attack in the third over and he got Mithun Ali (1) with the third delivery. Jasprit Bumrah, who conceded a boundary off the first ball of the Bangladesh chase had a horrible day in office when he dropped Tamim on 15 when the left-hander miscued a sweep shot off Ashwin.
India had to wait till the eighth over for the next wicket when Tamim moved down the track in attempt to take the attack to Jadeja but he was stumped by captain cool. Sabbir (26) was batting well but a moment’s of magic by Dhoni saw end of him of the bowling of Suresh Raina. Mashrafe Mortaza moved himself up the order and played some fantastic shot before being bowled by Jadeja.
Shakib Al Hasan inspired some confidence with some lusty blows for six. He kept the scoreboard ticking, but India came back into the contest when he was dismissed by Ashwin for a 15-ball 22.
For India Pandya, Jadeja and Ashwin picked up two wickets each while Nehra and Raina picked up a wicket each.
Earlier, put into bat in a tricky wicket, India’s star studded batting order struggled to get going just about managed to post a modest 146 for 7 on board. None of the Indian batsmen really settled in the middle on a pitch where the ball was not coming onto the bat.
India batsmen struggled to keep the scoreboard ticking for most part, getting bogged down by good bowling and a slowish surface. Suresh Raina was India’s top scorer 30 while Shikhar Dhawan made 23 and Virat Kohli scored 24 despite spending considerable time at the wicket but could never force the pace.
Openers Rohit Sharma (18) and Dhawan were unable to get the boundaries in the powerplay period. The first five overs brought them less than 30 runs. Mustafizur erred on his line in the sixth over and got smashed for a couple of sixes but in the end managed to scalp Rohit, who went for a slog but only managed a top edge as Sabbir Rahman took a well-judged skier.
In the very next over, Dhawan fell to Shakib Al Hasan, falling leg before. Kohli and Raina, then stitched a steady partnership but at a slow pace. However, Raina made up for a slow start with a couple of sixes which injected some thrill in the Indian innings but it did not lasted long.
The duo added 50 runs for the third wicket but Virat was clean bowled by Shuvagato Hom. Kohli missed the line completely to get bowled while trying a sweep shot. Pandya was sent ahead of Yuvraj Singh as India needed quick runs and the allrounder started things in a positive manner. Pandya came in with a bang, smashing a six of Hom and hit a couple of fours. He scored a 7-ball 15 and was out after an absolute blinder by Soumya Sarkar at square leg, a delivery after Raina fell miscuing a pull shot of Al Amin-Hossain’s bowling.
Yuvraj failed to come to grips with the nature of the surface and scored just three runs before mistiming a shot off the bowling of Mahmadullah. MS Dhoni and Jadeja got few boundaries in later stages but the latter fell to Mustafizur in the last over.
For Bangladesh, Amin Hossain and Mustafizur Rahaman picked up two wickets each while Shakib, Hom and Riyadh picked up wicket a piece.
