World T20: India clinch last ball win against Bangladesh

World T20: India clinch last ball win against Bangladesh

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Image Courtesy: © Twitter - ICC

In a nail-biting finish at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, India defeated Bangladesh by one run in the last ball to keep their hopes of a semi-final place alive in the World T20 on Wednesday. Earlier, India had posted 146/7 on the board with Suresh Raina top-scoring with 30 off 23 balls.

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.

Chasing a tricky total of 147, Bangladesh got off to a sluggish start with opener Mohammad Mithun falling for one in the third over. The right-hander tried to hit Ashwin out of the park but perished near the long-on boundary with Hardik Pandya taking the catch. Ashwin almost took his second wicket in his next over after Tamim skied one, but Jasprit Bumrah made a mess of the dolly catch to give Tamim, who was also dropped by Nehra in the first over, his second life.

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.

But, Tamim’s departure did not affect the scoring rate as Sabbir Rahman took the innings forward with inside edges and top edges making their way to the boundary. India’s talismanic skipper once again brought a rabbit out of the hat and removed the dangerous-looking Sabbir with a clever stumping off Raina.

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.

Coming in, Mushfiqur Rahim joined Mahmudullah and took Bangladesh to the brink of a victory as they needed just two off three balls after smashing eight runs in the first three balls of the final over. But they succumbed to the pressure and lost two quick wickets to rash shots off the fourth and fifth ball, leaving the match poised for a nail-biting finish with two needed off the last ball.

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)

Earlier,after a comfortable six-wicket victory against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Eden Gardens, the Indian team reached the garden city in search of a win against Bangladesh to keep their semifinal hopes alive. Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and opted to bowl first. M S Dhoni opted to keep faith with the tried and tested XI, while Bangladesh brought back Tamim Iqbal, who missed the last match due to illness, for Saqlain Sajib in a bid to stay alive in the tournament.

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.

For the third time in a row, the openers followed each other back to the pavilion in quick succession as Shakib threw in a quicker one to strike Dhawan on the pads right in front of the stumps. From 42/0, India went to 45/2 in a matter of seven balls to give Virat Kohli once again the job of rebuilding the innings.

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.

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