Nidahas Trophy, Match 5, Bangladesh v India Review: Men in Blue Qualify for Final of the Tournament

The men in Blue registered their 3^rd victory in the Nidahas Trophy which helped them book a place in the final of the tournament. It was a brilliant knock by Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina which helped India score a competitive total of 176 runs. While defending the target, it was Washington Sundar who was the star performer for India bagging 3 wickets. The Men in Blue eventually won by 17 runs.

It was Mahmudullah who won the toss and put India in. It wasn’t a conducive pitch for batting and Rohit Sharma, in particular, took a bit of time to gets settled in. It was a brilliant partnership between Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina which propelled India to a score of 176/3 in their allotted 20 overs. Mushfiqur Rahim played a brilliant knock but it wasn’t enough to win the match for the Tigers. Sundar finished with figures of 3/22 in 4 overs spell.

It was Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah who won the toss and opted to bat. India began well with both openers playing some delightful shots. However, the pitch was not a batting paradise under any stress of imagination. Both applied themselves well and made sure that the Bangladesh bowlers were not able to bag any wickets in the first 9 overs.

Dhawan looked in good touch yet another time and struck 5 exquisite boundaries during his knock of 35 of 27 deliveries. It also included a solitary six. Rohit  Sharma, on the other hand, was finding it difficult to execute the big shots. However, he did manage to find the gaps on occasions and keep the scoreboard ticking.

It was a sensational delivery from Rubel Hossain which brought an end to a superb innings from Dhawan. It was a well-pitched Yorker and the stumps went for a cartwheel. It was Suresh Raina who joined Rohit in the middle and looked in ominous touch from the outset. He said in the interview after the innings that it wasn’t easy to bat on the surface.

But the southpaw found the gaps on a quite consistent basis. The scoreboard kept ticking along as India was looking towards a respectable total. Raina struck some wonderful shots through the cover and the point region. He was dismissed in the final over after he made 47 of 30 deliveries which included 5 fours and a couple of sixes.

Rohit Sharma after a relatively slow start gained momentum towards the later stages of the innings. He was run out in the final delivery of the innings after scoring a brilliant 89 of 61 deliveries. It included 5 fours and 5 gigantic hits over the fence. It was a brilliant partnership between Raina and Rohit which eventually propelled India to a score of 176/3 in their allotted 20 overs.

After a couple of boundaries between Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das, it was Washington Sundar who provided the maiden breakthrough in the form of Liton Das. Tamim Iqbal smashed 19 of the 3^rd over of the innings but Sundar bagged a couple of wickets in quick succession. However, Mushfiqur Rahim kept them in the chase with some sensational hitting.

It was his unbeaten knock of 72 runs which took Bangladesh close but in the end, it was just too much for Bangladesh. India kept chipping away with the wickets which didn’t really allow Bangladesh to go after the bowlers. In the end, India won the clash by 1 runs to book a place in the final.

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