Was My Decision to Hold DK Back: Rohit Sharma

It was Dinesh Karthik who single-handedly won the Nidahas Trophy for the Men in Blue. The wicket-keeper batsman smashed an unbeaten 29 of 8 deliveries which helped India seal the match in the final delivery of the match. He smashed a huge six in the last delivery to win the match for India. Earlier in the day, it was a great innings of 77 from Sabbir Rahman which helped Bangladesh post 166 on the board.

Bangladesh and India are fighting it out in the final of the Nidahas Trophy. The Men in blue have started off very well with the ball in hand. It was Team Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted put Bangladesh in. Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das started off very well as both struck some delightful shots to begin proceedings.

However, it was Washington Sundar who provided India the maiden breakthrough in the form of Liton Das’ wicket. Without any further addition of score, Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed the other opener to open the floodgates for the Men in Blue. However, the credit must go the fielder Shardul Thakur who pulled off an incredible catch to send the batsman back to the pavilion.

Tamim came dancing down the track to smash Chahal out of the park. However, he mistimed it and the ball went up straight in the air. Shardul Thakur who was stationed in the midwicket region played a balance game to pluck the catch out of thin air. He caught the ball first and then made sure that he showed his balancing skills.

The spinner bagged a couple more wickets in quick succession to reduce the hosts 68/4. Southpaw Soumya Sarkar was undone by a brilliant wrong un while man in form Mushfiqur Rahim ended up giving away a straightforward catch to Vijay Shankar. Despite the slump, Bangladesh recovered brilliantly in the later stages to post a competitive 166 on the board at the end of their allotted 20 overs.

It was a brilliant innings of 77 runs of 50 deliveries from the blade of Sabbir Rahman which propelled Bangladesh in the later stages. The Indian openers began fluently. Rohit Sharma, in particular, struck a few delightful shots to kick of his in ings. Shikhar Dhawan, on the other hand, fell early after smacking a big six.

Suresh Raina was dismissed without bothering the scorers as India were in a spot of bother. Lokesh Rahul struck a couple of fours and a six during his knock of 24 of 14 deliveries. India almost lost the game as Vijay Shankar and Manish Pandey found it difficult to play the big shots on a consistent basis.

In the end, it was a scintillating knock from Dinesh Karthik which helped India chase the total down. 34 were required of the last couple of overs. He struck 22 runs in the 19^th over of Rubel Hossain. He smashed a six of the final delivery of Soumya Sarkar to help India lift the trophy.

Here is what Rohit Sharma said at the post-match presentation

Want to thank the Sri Lankan crowd for coming out and supporting us. Great tournament for us. Young bunch of lads – lot of learning, we always knew that they had talent; they will get confidence from this tournament. These games are high-pressure games and it isn’t easy. Quite easy to lead them, played with most of them. Lots of strategising and it was about executing them. Very happy for DK. I want one of the experienced campaigners to stay at the end – that’s why I held DK back. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”