Bangladesh lost their third match of the ongoing Nidahas Trophy against India by 17 runs.
Batting first, India set a challenging target of 177 for Bangladesh to chase down.
Coming on to bat, Bangladesh lost its top 4 batsmen fairly quickly putting the Tigers on the back foot.
From there, Mushfiq tried his best to bring Bangladesh back into the game partnering with Sabbir Rahman.
However, when Sabbir went back to the pavilion scoring 27 off 23 balls, Mushfiq fell short of worthy company.
Despite another fantastic innings of 72 from 55 balls, Mushfiq failed to extract enough support from Mehidy Miraz to take Bangladesh over the line.
In the end, Bangladesh finished at 159 for 6 giving India their 3rd straight victory of the tournament.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman are trying to bring Bangladesh back into the game against India after a quick loss of top 4 wickets.
In order to win, Bangladesh need to score 177 runs from 120 balls against team India in their second leg match of the Nidahas Trophy T20 triangular series.
India finished the first innings with 176 on the board, losing 3 wickets, all by pacer Rubel Hossain.
Rubel took the first wicket in the 10th over of the match, as his blazing yorker knocked the middle stamp off following Dhawan’s missed swing. The Indian lineup is going with a steady run-rate with just over 7 runs per over.
The last two wickets were taken by Rubel in the 19th over, as he made the stumps fly off behind Raina and Sharma with blazing full length deliveries.
Big picture
The Nidahas Trophy hasn’t produced ground-breaking cricket yet but it has certainly provided a lot of drama. Even though India won comfortably against Sri Lanka on Monday, there was always a sense of tension that one more wicket could open up the game. Bangladesh provided their share of drama too over the weekend.
What could tilt the next battle, between India and Bangladesh, could be confidence. Whichever side can retain belief within themselves could come out on top on the day.
India have plenty of happy faces in their team after the hard-fought win over the home side. Manish Pandey and Dinesh Karthik finished off the tricky chase quietly, after Suresh Raina’s 15-ball 27 had stirred up the ground. The experienced Raina could have played himself in, given that India had already lost captain Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, but he did the exact opposite.
Among the bowlers, too, India have much confidence. Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal varied their pace well, and so did Shardul Thakur who finished with four wickets. Jaydev Unadkat and Vijay Shankar played supporting roles.
Bangladesh must have a buzzing dressing room too, having won in dramatic fashion against Sri Lanka. The fact that their previous highest successful chase was 166 has made the chase of 215 all the more special. Liton Das started in fine style before Tamim Iqbal took over the baton. Then Soumya Sarkar struck a few timely blows and Mushfiqur Rahim took over, finishing with an unbeaten 72 off 35 balls with some help from Mahmudullah.
Bangladesh’s bowling could do better, however. Mehidy Hasan and Nazmul Islam will once again need to slow things down while Mustafizur Rahman and Rubel Hossain have to bowl well in the Powerplay and slog overs. Taskin Ahmed may have to give away his place after being below par.
Form guide
India: WWLWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Bangladesh: WLLLL
In the spotlight
Shardul Thakur has used the knuckle-ball to great effect against Sri Lanka, picking up his first four-wicket haul in T20Is. He will once again have to ace those change-ups in the crucial overs, especially if the match is shortened by rain.
Mustafizur Rahman has played the most T20s among the Bangladeshi bowlers in 2018, which means there remains a lot of dependence on him. He has taken four wickets in the Nidahas Trophy so far but was unable to stem the flow of runs against Sri Lanka.
