SIDDHARTH VISHWANATHAN
COLOMBO: Shikhar Dhawan extended his blazing T20 form as his second consecutive fifty in the Nidahas Trophy helped India bounce back from their loss to Sri Lanka in the first match to score a six-wicket win over Bangladesh at the R Premadasa stadium on Thursday.
Dhawan’s brilliant 55 was the bright spot on a day when India’s sloppy fielding and wayward bowling was not punished by a lacklustre Bangladesh team that was restricted to 139/8.
Chasing 140, Rohit Sharma and Dhawan started off with some boundaries. However, the Indian skipper who looked to guide a good length ball to third man ended up dragging the delivery on to the stumps. Rohit’s dismissal for 17 extended his poor run, having scored 15,21,0,11 and 0 in his previous five games.
DHAWAN’S GREAT RUN
Rishabh Pant (7) was promoted to No 3 but failed to cash in as he gave the charge to play on against Rubel Hossain. The bowler was unlucky not to take his second wicket after Mehidy Hasan spilled a chance at leg gully off Suresh Raina with the batsman on one.
The left-handers strung a solid partnership of 68 runs with Dhawan getting to his sixth fifty with a sweep off left-arm orthodox spinner Nazmul Islam.
Raina (28) and Dhawan (55) fell in quick succession but Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey guided India over the line. Despite the win, Rohit’s side will feel lucky their fielding errors were not punished.
India dropped four catches, missed a run out and the bowlers conceded 15 extras.
Yet they managed to restrict Bangladesh. That India tied down Bangladesh to a below-par score spoke of the ineptitude of the batsmen.
Opting to bowl, India failed to latch on to a chance off Soumya Sarkar in the first over with three fielders converging on the topedge but none going for the catch at fine leg.
FIELDING WOES
The first fielding lapse set the tone for the rest of India’s innings. Shardul Thakur trapped Tamim Iqbal leg before but the decision was overturned on review as the ball had pitched outside the leg stump line. Buoyed by the successful review, the left-hander hit two boundaries before the batsman top-edged a pull to short fine leg.
In the seventh over, Vijay Shankar’s quest for a Twenty20 International wicket was denied twice, with Liton Das benefiting both times.
The first catch was spilled by Suresh Raina, who he ran from wide mid-off. Two balls later,
Liton top-edged a short-arm pull but Washington Sundar put the catch down at fine leg.
Shankar finally turned his luck around by getting Mushfiqur Rahim (18) and skipper Mahmudullah (1). In the death overs, Mahmudullah’s side needed Liton (34) and Sabbir (30) to fire but both fell in quick succession.
If being accused of adultery was not enough for Mohammed Shami, the pacer’s wife Hasin Jahan has now said the Indian cricket team player ‘can cheat the country too.’
Shami, an India Test team regular, has been accused of having multiple affairs by his wife. She has also filed a complaint with the Kolkata Police saying that Shami physically assaulted and threatened her over a period of almost two years.
The cricketer, however, has refuted all claims.
‘CAN CHEAT COUNTRY’
In fresh turn of events, Hasin Jahan said that Shami received money from a Pakistani girl named Alishba and maybe involved in fixing.
“Alishba is a Pakistani citizen and Shami claimed that she gave him money. I have never been told by Shami for what purpose that money was given. I don’t know but if he can fraud me he can fraud the country too,” Hasin told ABP News in an interview.
“I have evidence. The media should go to that hotel in Dubai where Shami met Alishba and check if he booked a room or not. I have a recording of Shami saying that he took the money. But why was he given the money in first place?”