Bangladesh gave India a run for their money but the 5th best team in T20 ultimately prevailed.
Before these T20Is, Bangladesh wasn’t a threat to India since they never beat the fifth best-ranked team in the format. However, during the match, Bangladesh looked like they could - and would - beat India. In the end, India, with plenty of help from Rohit Sharma, came out on top to win the match by 30 runs. They also won the series 2-1.
With the conditions that the pitch was in, both Rohit and Mahmudullah wanted to field first, but after the coin toss, Mahmudullah was given the chance to do so. With India batting first, all they could manage was a decent 174. This was mostly due to Shafiul Islam, Bangladesh’s bowler, who was able to eliminate Rohit Sharma and Shikhar in the powerplay. However, it was KL Rahul (who scored 52 runs) and Shreyas Iyer (with 62 runs) who provided most of the punch for India.
In the 13th over, Al Amin Hossain was able to separate the duo by dismissing Rahul. Rishabh Pant was, again, unable to provide much for the team, falling to Soumya Sarkar. Manish Pandey, replacing Krunal Pandya in the eleventh over, scored 22 off 13 balls including three fours. The Bangladesh Tigers got two wickets from Shafiul and Soumya’s bowling.
Liton Das started Bangladesh’s turn to bat with a couple of fours but then fell to Deepak Chahar. In his very next bowl, the fast-paced bowler dismissed Soumya for a golden duck. In dire need of runs, it would be Mohammad Naim and Mohammad Mithun, 81 and 27 runs respectively, who would get the team’s innings back on track. They were able to score 98 off 59 balls and looked like was going to bring Bangladesh the victory. Just as they were heating up, Chahar shut their hopes down.
He was able to dismiss Mithun and give India some breathing room. Shivam Duba was able to dismiss Mushfiqur Rahim for a golden duck and his first wicket. Afterwards, he dismissed both Naim and Afif Hossain Dhrubo in quick succession. He then dismissed Mahmudullah to help India ultimately prevail. In the process, Chahar picked up a hat-trick and six wickets to help India close out the game.
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