Dinesh Karthik
celebrates after scoring the winning run to defeat Bangladesh by four wickets during the finals of Nidahas triangular Twenty20 cricket series in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sunday. Needing five off the final delivery, Karthik smashed Soumya Sarkar for a six as India held their nerves to chase down a target of 167 in 20 overs.
Colombo, March 18: Dinesh Karthik’s last- ball six helped India pull off an incredible run chase, beating Bangladesh by four wickets in the Nidhas T20 Tri- series final, here on Sunday.
Needing five off the final delivery, Karthik smashed Soumya Sarkar over extracover as a second- string Indian side held their nerve in a tense situation to chase down a target of 167 in 20 overs. Karthik’s gem of a cameo got him 29 off 8 balls with two boundaries and three sixes — the last of them which will be forever be etched in the memory.
Skipper Rohit Sharma’s ( 56 off 42 balls) dismissal set India’s inexperienced middleorder in panic mode and Vijay Shankar’s four dot balls off the 18th over by Mustafizur Rahaman made it very difficult for India. Karthik came at the start of the 19th over and hit Rubel Hossain for 22 including two sixes and two fours to bring down the equation to 12 off the final over before finishing it off in style.
Earlier, Indian pacers undid the hardwork of their spinners as Bangladesh scored a competitive 166/ 8, riding on Sabbir Rahman’s 50- ball 77.
Off- spinner Washington Sundar ( 1/ 20 in 4 overs) and leg- spinner Yuzvendra Chahal ( 3/ 18 in 4 overs) were brilliant in the Powerplay but the duo of Vijay Shankar ( 0/ 48 in 4 overs) and Shardul Thakur ( 0/ 45 in 4 overs) leaked 93 runs between them on a good batting surface.
While the WashingtonChahal duo bowled 20 dot balls between them with only one boundary, Shankar and Thakur conceded 10 boundaries and four sixes.
Jaydev Unadkat ( 2/ 33) did come back well in his final over but Sabbir cleverly waited for the spinners to finish their quota as he launched a furious assault on the pacers during the back- 10.
Skipper Rohit Sharma taking a gamble by introducing both spinners inside the Powerplay overs instead of using an effective part- timer like Suresh Raina when Thakur and Shankar were being hit, came as a surprise.
The last six overs of the Bangladesh innings yielded 66 runs — mostly coming from Sabbir’s blade.
Bangladesh openers Tamim Iqbal ( 15) and Litton Das ( 11) started off in a whirlwind fashion but Washington forced the latter to play a slog sweep and the ball ballooned for Raina to complete a lovely catch.