World T20: India clinch last ball win against Bangladesh

Brief Scores: India 146/7 in 20/20 overs (Raina 30(23) , Kohli 24(24), Al-Amin 2/37, Mustafizur 2/34) to beat Bangladesh 145/9 in 20/20 overs (Tamim Iqbal 35(32), Sabbir Rahman 26(50), Ashwin 2/20, Jadeja 2/22) by one run.

Things went from bad to worse for Burmah and India in the next over as Tamim Iqbal smashed four boundaries off the pacer to add to the misery. However, Dhoni brought on Jadeja in the eighth over, and it led to the downfall of the dangerous left-hander. Tamim jumped out of the crease a bit too early, and Jadeja fired one to Dhoni with the ball sneaking under the bat. The skipper did the rest to remove Tamim, who was caught in no man’s land.

Although wickets were falling one after another, Bangladesh kept the run rate going with skipper Mortaza and Shakib cashing in on every opportunity. But Jadeja and Ashwin removed Mortaza and Shakib respectively in consecutive overs to mount pressure on Bangladesh leaving them needing 51 in the last seven overs.

With the team needing a partnership to find their way home, Soumya Sarkar and Mahmudullah joined hands to form a 31-run partnership for the sixth wicket to take Bangladesh to just 21 runs shy of a victory off 14 balls before Sarkar played a hoick to hole out to Kohli at long-on.

As the entire stadium was up on its feet, Pandya bowled a short delivery outside off that Hom missed completely, but Mustafizur ran towards the batting end to enforce a super over. But Dhoni proved he was as quick on his feet as he was with his hands as he ran the length to dismantle the stumps. Following a few tense seconds, the third umpire screen showed it was out to send the Chinnaswamy stadium into raptures.

(Take a look at how Twitter reacted to India's win)

With the pitch expected to assist spinners, Mortaza brought right-arm off break bowler Shuvagata Hom from the other end after the skipper himself kept things quiet in the opening over. A long-hop from the bowler gave Dhawan the opportunity to score the first boundary of the innings, but the demons in the pitch were clear to everyone after the over from the spinner.

Mortaza kept on changing his bowlers, giving no chance to the Indian openers to settle. But the Bangladesh skipper brought Mustafizur back for a second over just before the end of the powerplay, and this gave an opportunity for Dhawan and Rohit to cash in. With the crowd screaming “we want a six”, Rohit Sharma smashed Mustafizur straight back over his head for the first six of the innings to send the crowd into delirium. Dhawan followed the lead of his partner and scored the second maximum of the over, this time flicking a half-volley on the leg stump over the cow corner. But the try for a third from Rohit ended his innings in the last ball of the over after he skied one to give Sabbir Rahman at midwicket the catch.

Raina upped the ante in the next over by smashing Al-Amin Hossain for two back-to-back sixes over the square leg fence, but the Men in Blue returned to their normal rate in the next two overs with Shakib and Mortaza bowling a tight line. In the 14th over, Kohli deposited a delicious full toss from Hom over the midwicket fence to register his name in the six-hitters column in the match but perished the very next ball, trying a repeat of the same shot, only to hear the ball hitting the timber.

Hardik Pandya arrived next and immediately produced a humongous six over the deep square leg boundary. The all-rounder smashed two more boundaries in the next over, but Al-Amin Hossain took two consecutive wickets to remove Raina and Pandya. Pandya was unlucky to cut short his innings of 15 from 7 balls after Soumya Sarkar pulled off a brilliant full-length dive to put another nominee for the catch of the tournament. With wickets falling in bunches, India failed to accelerate in the final overs and ended up at 146/7 at the end of 20 overs.