During the final of the Nidahas Trophy between Bangladesh and India at Colombo, Bangladesh has scored 166-8 in their allotted quota of 20 overs. It was primarily due to Sabbir Rahman’s fourth T20I half-century. But it wasn’t enough as India chased it down with the help of Dinesh Karthik’s Dhoniesque six off the final ball of the match.
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 was 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.
On the other end, Sabbir 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.
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.
While coming to chase down the total the Indian opener Rohit and Dhawan started off pretty well as they were more than thirty in after the first three overs. But after the early dismissal of Dhawan and Suresh Raina, India managed to score 56/2 out of which Rohit scored 39 runs, after the powerplay.
While Shikhar Dhawan (10) and Raina (0) returned to the dressing room quickly, Rohit Sharma put an important 49 runs partnership for the third wicket along with KL Rahul. But Rahul also couldn’t make it big for India as he was dismissed after score 24 off 14 balls.
While Rahul was dismissed for 24 runs, Rohit completed his half-century before he was dismissed, but he also failed to convert it into something big. Equation became difficult for the men in blue in the death overs as they needed a run rate of more than 10 in the last 5 overs with Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar at the crease.
Equation came down to 35 needed in last 3 overs to India with Shankar at the strike in the 18th over bowled by but he played four consecutive dot balls and somehow managed to get a leg-bye on the penultimate ball of the over only to Pandey getting caught in the final ball.
In the last 2 overs, India needed 34 runs which were a whopping task to do but Dinesh Karthik has some different plans as he started off the 19th over with a six and amassed 22 runs in the penultimate over bowled by Rubel Hossain with India needing 12 off the final over.
Shankar was on strike in the first ball of the 20th over which was bowled by Soumya Sarkar, but he got dismissed on the second last ball of that over with India needed five to win and four for a draw. Karthik brought win from the jaws of defeat for the Men in blue as he smashed a flat Dhoniesque six over deep extra cover on the last ball and took India over the line.
Sarkar needed his captain to lift him up off the ground as he was inconsolable. For a part-time bowler to be given the final over, to handle this kind of pressure, is a lot of work and he tackled it gamely. But Karthik is a sensational finisher in T20 cricket, he does it time and again in the IPL. But that final six to seal it all was the best of them, with the ball going over cover, as pristine a cricket shot as any to finish off a T20 game. Fro his brilliant performance Karthik was declared as the man of the match. While Sundar became the player of the tournament for picking 8 wicket with an economy of around 5.
Brief score: Bangladesh – 166/8 (S Rahaman 77, Mahmudullah; Y Chahal 3/18) defeated by India – 168/6 (R Sharma 56, D Karthik 29; R Hossain 2/35)
