Bowlers waste the advantage
Bangladesh's bowlers managed to execute their plans initially but were unable to keep the momentum till the end after skipper Mahmudullah opted to field against a strong Indian batting line-up in their crucial T20I tri-series Nidahas Trophy encounter at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo yesterday.
Mahmudullah, who rotated all the five bowlers in the first five overs of the innings, kept Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan guessing -- the first six of the innings came in the last ball of the fourth over from Mustafizur Rahman. India added just 27 runs in the first four overs and went on to score 49 runs in the Powerplay without losing a wicket.
The field placements seemed to have been planned keeping the strengths of the two batsmen in mind -- there was an extra cover, backward point and also a short third man against Dhawan who likes to chance his arms through that region against pace bowlers.
The most successful bowler among the Tigers was Rubel Hossain, who managed to break the 70-run opening partnership by dismissing Dhawan for 35 with a fast 143 kmph yorker to uproot the middle stump.
Rubel went on to pick up the wicket of Raina in the latter stage of the innings and ended up with figures of two for 27 from his four overs, conceding just four runs in an excellent last over of the innings.
Left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam, despite not picking up a wicket, was impressive and kept things tight as he gave away just 27 runs from four overs and more importantly, bowled 12 dot balls which frustrated the Indian batsmen.
India managed to score 71 runs in the first 10 overs and reached 100 in the 14th over but since then, skipper Sharma, who was struggling to middle the ball, cashed in along with Suresh Raina courtesy of some wayward bowling by the Tigers.
The pair added 102 runs for the second wicket before Raina was caught at cow corner off Rubel after scoring 47 off 30 balls.
Left-arm seamer Abu Hider started off well, giving 22 runs from his first three overs, but was wayward in his last over as he conceded 21 runs in the 18th over of the innings, during which he was struck for three sixes.
Mustafizur was not able to make an impact on the game and remained wayward with his line and length, which allowed the batsmen to score freely despite pressure being created at the other end as the Fizz conceded 38 runs from his four wicket-less overs. Off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz, who bowled well in the last two games, was also expensive, conceding 31 runs from his three overs.
Sharma was eventually run out in the very last ball of the innings after scoring 89 off 61 balls with five sixes and as many fours. Despite adding only four runs in the last over India managed to score 59 runs in the last five overs to eventually post a challenging 176 for three.
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