Washington Sundar was Simply Brilliant: Rohit Sharma

The Men in Blue registered their 3^rd win of the tournament as they defeated Bangladesh by 17 runs to book their place in the final of the tournament.

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 again 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. 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.

Chasing a competitive total, Bangladesh openers Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das began with a boundary each. Tamim began with a punch of the backfoot which raced off to the boundary. However, Liton Das after smashing a boundary was dismissed by Washington Sundar. He came dancing down the track only to be stumped by Dinesh Karthik.

Tamim Iqbal, on the other hand, began in a se national fashion. The southpaw struck 19 of Shardul Thakur in the 3^rd over. However, Washinton Sundar bagged two wickets in the form of Soumya Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal. It was some splendid piece of bowling from the youngster. However, Bangladesh’s hero from the previous encounter kept them in the game with some sublime hitting.

Meanwhile, Mahmudullah was dismissed by Yuzvendra Chahal as Bangladesh were reduced to 61/4. Sabbir Rahman also played a good knock of 27 of 23 deliveries but he was bamboozled by a good slower delivery from Shardul Thakur. Mushfiqur kept Bangladesh in the chase. However it was too much in the end as Bangladesh fell short by runs. Rahim remained unbeaten on 72.

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

It was important for me to step up. Like I said at the toss I tried to take my time with the bat at the start. I felt we were 10-15 runs short with that bat at the middle stage. But Washington started brilliantly with the ball and his spell changed the game for us. The wicket wasn’t the usual wicket we’ve been playing on for the last well. It was gripping and was slow and that is why I wanted to take my time. One set batsman had to bat and I knew a new batsman would find it tough. Raina has been timing the ball brilliantly and that is great to see. He is never afraid of flighting the ball, sets his own field and it says a lot about an individual. In the series we played against Sri Lanka in India we saw that from him and it paid off. I just told Siraj to keep it simple and we knew that that was the way to contain them. I asked him to bowl that back of a length ball because we found it tough to hit. He is a great talent, has all the capabilities of doing what a fast bowler has to do and he’ll do well for us in the future.

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