Bangladesh were confined to a modest total of 153 by India during the second T20I match at Saurashtra Cricket Stadium in Rajkot on Thursday. There was a fear that the match might get cancelled due to cyclone on Wednesday night, but on Thursday there were no signs of rain and the match got underway.
After winning the toss, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma opted to bowl first and both teams went with unchanged XI’s. Tigers’ were off to a flying start through openers Liton and Naim. Liton scored 29, Naim was tidy with 36 too, but a middle order collapse negated Bangladesh’s early advantage. Afif, Mosaddek and Aminul were slow in the death overs, and that allowed Chahar and Chahal to pull things back at the death for India.
In openers Liton Das and Mohammad Naim’s brilliant starting, young gun Naim played some scintillating shots. Both were looking good and picked up 41 from 5 overs. Liton got a life in the sixth over as he skipped down the track and looked to go aerial. He failed to make any contact and Pant whipped off the bails. However, replay showed Pant collected the ball in front of the stumps. It was then given a no-ball.
After the end of powerplay, Bangladesh’s total was 54/0. Liton got another life in the seventh over, as he skied a ball in Washington Sundar’s delivery, which skipper Rohit Sharma dropped. However, Liton (29) couldn’t make those drop chances count as he was run out in the very next over, leaving Bangladesh at 60/1 after 7.2 overs.
Soumya Sarkar then came onto the crease and was knocking the ball around to keep the scoreboard moving. Then in the 10.3 overs Bangladesh lost their second wicket, Naim (36) was caught out in Sundar’s delivery, which brought last match’s hero Mushfiqur Rahim on the crease. Bangladesh’s score was 83 at that moment.
It was then Mushfiq and Soumya’s responsibility to turn Bangladesh’s good start into a challenging total. However, they both got out in quick succession, Mushfiq (4) failed to repeat the same feat of last match this time and Chahal made him his prey. Soumya (30) was also out in the same over, leaving Bangladesh at 103/4 after 13 overs.
From there skipper Mahmudullah played some shots and tried to finish strongly for Bangladesh, but he couldn’t stay till the end and got out after playing a cameo innings of 30. But it was not enough to throw a challenging total in front of a strong Indian batting lineup.