New Delhi: Wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim scored a brilliant half-century as Bangladesh registered their first ever T20I victory over India here on Sunday.
In what was the 1000th T20 international, Bangladesh came out with an all-round performance as they defeated India by seven wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium to take 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Needing 149 to break the streak of eight straight losses against India, Bangladesh rode on an unbeaten 60 (43 balls, 4×8, 6×1) by Mushfiqur to chase down the target with three balls to spare.
The match looked evenly poised when Bangladesh needed 22 runs off the last two overs. However, Mushfiqur collected 18 runs off the 19th over bowled by Khaleel Ahmed and tilted the game in the visitor’s favour. Skipper Mahmudullah then finished things off in style, hitting debutant Shivam Dube for a six over long-on in the third ball of the final over to script a historic victory. Earlier, put into bat, India got off to a poor start as they lost stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma in the opening over. Rohit (9), who on Sunday went past Virat Kohli to become the leading run-scorer in T20Is, couldn’t take his Test form into the shortest format as Shafiul Islam trapped in front of the stumps in the fifth delivery of the match. Lokesh Rahul then joined Shikhar Dhawan in the middle and the duo made sure the hosts didn’t lose any more wicket in the Powerplay. Both adopted a cautious approach and played the balls on their merit, hitting boundaries whenever they got the opportunity. The two took India’s score to 35/1 at the end of six overs before Rahul (15 off 17 balls) lost his wicket to leg-spinner Aminul Islam.
Shreyas Iyer (22 off 13 balls) looked good during his brief stay and smashed two sixes and a four before losing his wicket to Aminul while trying to go for his third maximum.
However, Pandya (15 off 8) and Washington Sundar (14 off 5) provided India the much-needed impetus to get close to the 150-run mark. Bangladesh also began their run chase poorly as they lost opener Liton Das in the very first over. However, Naim Sheikh and new batsman Soumya Sarkar then launched a counter-attack to put the opposition under pressure. Both played freely and by the end of the seventh over, they took Bangladesh to 53/1, looking set to take the game away from the hosts.
However, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal then had Naim caught by Dhawan at long-on, providing some much-needed respite to the Indian crowd.
The second match of the series will be played in Rajkot on November 7. (IANS)
Score Board
India: 148-6 in 20 Overs
Rohit Sharma lbw b Shafiul 9 Shikhar Dhawan run out 41 Lokesh Rahul c Mahmudullah b Aminul 15 Shreyas Iyer c Naim b Aminul Islam 22 Rishabh Pant c Naim b Shafiul 27
Shivam Dube c & b Afif Hossain 1
Krunal Pandya not out 15
Washington Sundar not out 14
Extras: (LB-3, W-1) 4
Fall of Wickets: 10-1, 36-2, 70-3, 95-4, 102-5, 120-6.
Bowling: Shafiul Islam 4-0-36-2,
Al-Amin Hossain 4-0-27-0,
Mustafizur Rahman 2-0-15-0, Aminul Islam 3-0-22-2, Soumya Sarkar 2-0-16-0, Afif Hossain 3-0-11-1, Mosaddek Hossain 1-0-8-0, Mahmudullah 1-0-10-0.
Bangladesh: 154/3 in 19.3 Overs
Liton Das c Rahul b D Chahar 7
Mohammad Naim c Dhawan b Chahal 26
Soumya Sarkar b Khaleel Ahmed 39
Mushfiqur Rahim not out 60
Mahmudullah not out 15
Extras (lb-3, w-4) 7
Fall of Wickets: 1-8, 2-54, 4-114,
Bowling: Chahar 3-0-24-1, Washington 4-0-25-0,
Khaleel 4-0-37-1, Chahal 4-0-24-1,
Pandya 4-0-32-0, Shivam Dube 0.3-0-9-0. (PTI)