During the final of the Nidahas Trophy between Bangladesh and India at Colombo, Bangladesh have scored 166-8 in their allotted quota of 20 overs. It was primarily due to Sabbir Rahman’s fourth T20I half-century. Coming in to bat at No. 3, he made sure that the Bangladeshi batting line-up revolved around him, especially when the others failed to make a mark.
Having won the toss, Rohit Sharma, the Indian captain, put in Bangladesh in to bat. India had brought back Jaydev Unadkat into the playing eleven in place of Mohammad Siraj. Washington Sundar, who opened the bowling with Unadkat, drew first blood as he dismissed Liton Das (11) in the fourth over.
Bangladesh were further dented in the powerplay when Yuzvendra Chahal, India’s first change bowler, picked up a couple of wickets in his first over itself. On the second of his first over, Chahal dismissed the danger man in Tamim Iqbal (15), courtesy of a brilliant catch by Shardul Thakur at the long-on boundary. On the ultimate delivery of the over, Soumya Sarkar (1) swept a delivery straight into the hands of Shikhar Dhawan, who was fielding at square leg.
At the end of the powerplay, Bangladesh had scored 40-3. Vijay Shankar was introduced into the attack by Rohit Sharma in the eighth over. Sabbir Rahman counted on the opportunity to break the shackles by hitting a six and a four on the first two balls that he faced. At the halfway mark, Bangladesh had scored 68-3.
Mushfiqur Rahim (9) was dismissed by Chahal on the first delivery of the 11th over, further hitting Bangladesh prospects of posting a substantial total. Mahmudullah (21), Bangladesh’s skipper, was the next wicket to fall as he was involved in an utter chaos while running.
On the other end, Sabbir Rahman was going strong as ever and completed his half-century in the following over. In the 17th over, he again targeted Shankar and hit the Indian medium-pace all-rounder for a couple of sixes. Continuing his excellent innings, he hit a couple of boundaries to Shardul Thakur in the next over.
Sabbir Rahman finally got out on the second delivery of the 19th over as he was bowled by Jaydev Unadkat. He ended up scoring 77 (50) with the help of seven fours and six sixes. Mehedy Hasan Miraz gave the final touch to the Bangladeshi innings as he scored 19 (7) with the help of two fours and a six.
The Indian spinners didn’t let the opposition batsmen dominate in the final match. Both Sundar (4-0-20-1) and Chahal (4-0-18-3) bowled eight overs between them and gave away just 38 runs, picking up four wickets. On the contrary, the pacers in Unadkat, Thakur and Shankar gave away 126 runs in the 12 overs that they bowled between them.
