When both teams arrived at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, there were contrasting feelings in their camps. While India were having an eye on securing a spot in the semi-finals, Bangladesh faced a must-win situation to stay alive in the tournament.
After a much-needed victory against arch-rivals Pakistan in Kolkata, MS Dhoni’s team brought their campaign back on track. However, the Indians also wanted to improve their net run-rate just in case the situation came down to it.
On the other hand, Mashrafe Mortaza’s side had to bounce back from consecutive losses to Pakistan and Australia. To make matters worse, they also had to contend with the absence of Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny who were sidelined due to suspect actions.
Bangladesh won the toss on a surface which offered quite a lot for the spinners and opted to chase. They were impressive in the field while the Indian batsmen somehow stuttered their way to 146. Despite a brilliant start from the opposition, India maintained their intensity till the last moment to clinch a thriller and keep their hopes alive.
Let us take a look at the biggest takeaways from the humdinger in chronological order.
#1 – Indian openers throw it away again
A lot has been said about the form and approach of both Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. The opening duo failed to judge the slowness of the Nagpur pitch and also could not do much against Pakistan too.
Consequently, the pressure on the middle-order increased manifold. The same story repeated again as the openers got off to a good start on another sluggish surface only to let go off the momentum with poor decision making.
Rohit smashed Mustafizur Rahman for a huge six and looked like he was settling down for a long innings. But, he tried one shot too many as he got down on one knee to carve the canny seamer through mid-wicket.
In the end, the 28-year old could only offer a skier which was accepted gleefully by Sabbir Rahman. Soon, Dhawan followed suit by attempting an ungainly sweep shot off Shakib Al Hasan and was trapped in front to leave the team in a precarious position.
#2 – Shakib Al Hasan applies the squeeze
Leading up to the match, Shakib Al Hasan showed glimpses of his class against Australia on the same venue. The left-armer’s spell of 3/27 had provided Bangladesh with a glimmer of hope as he troubled all the batsmen through his guile.
He was at it again as the Indian batsmen were exposed to a high-quality exhibition of spin bowling. The all-rounder was called upon during as early as the fifth over and he responded to the challenge splendidly with a tight start.
In his next over, Shakib outwitted Dhawan with a fuller delivery to pick-up a crucial wicket. When Raina and Virat Kohli were in the middle of a partnership, the spinner tied them both with his accuracy.
Despite Hardik Pandya’s cameo which ruined his bowling figures at the end, the fact that Shakib was able to stifle the much vaunted Indian batting certainly speaks volumes about his vast experience.
#3 – Mustafizur Rahman holds his nerve
The sight of MS Dhoni at the business stage of an innings is known to put opposition bowlers under severe scrutiny. India needed a typical blitz from their skipper to finish the innings on a high.
Dhoni got into his groove as he whacked Al Amin Hossain over covers with a powerful strike. On the other end, Ravindra Jadeja was finding his touch as he pierced the off-side boundary with ease.
Mustafizur Rahman was entrusted with bowling the final over. He began strongly by castling Jadeja to send the crowd into silence. The variations that he had in his arsenal turned to be the difference in the death overs.
The big-hitting Dhoni tried to get underneath the yorker length employed by the talented youngster. But, Mustafizur’s consistency at finding the block hole meant that India could not quite get the acceleration that they wanted.
#4 – Bumrah’s spectacular comeback
Jasprit Bumrah had an unforgettable day in the field. It started off badly as he could not put his body behind the ball properly and Tamim Iqbal got off the mark with a boundary off the very first ball.
Then, he dropped a sitter when Tamim mistimed a sweep shot off Ravichandran Ashwin. The crowd was left bewildered at the atrocious fielding effort from the youngster. But, things were about to get even worse for the Mumbai Indians’ pacer.
Bumrah conceded four boundaries in the next over to aggravate India’s woes. But, Ravindra Jadeja stepped in to end Bumrah’s misery by inviting Tamim out of the crease and MS Dhoni completed the stumping.
However, the young pacer redeemed himself with his ice-cool death bowling to throttle the Bangladeshi batsmen. As the required run-rate dropped down significantly, he turned the heat on to give away only 13 runs from his final two overs which showed his fortitude.
#5 – Pandya and Dhoni deliver last ball win for India
The equation came down to 11 from the last over. Dhoni had no other option but to give the ball to Hardik Pandya to pull off a miracle as Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim awaited.
It looked like Bangladesh were on the verge of reaching the target as Rahim hit two consecutive boundaries to leave them only 2 runs adrift with still 3 deliveries left. There was a long discussion between Dhoni, Nehra and Pandya as the intensity increased.
What followed was incredible as Rahim suffered a brain freeze and found Dhawan at mid-wicket. Mahmudullah who is known for controlling crunch situations dispatched a full toss high into the air only for Jadeja to pluck off a marvelous catch.
With 2 runs required from the final delivery, Pandya hit the good length area and Shuvagata Hom could not connect. Dhoni who had removed one glove swooped in with vigor and ran Mustafizur out as Team India sealed a memorable victory to bring relief to the Bangalore crowd.
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