Twist in tail as Bangladesh stun India
Mirpur, Dec. 4: Bangladesh’s last wicket pair of Mehidy Hasan Miraj and Mustafizur Rahaman pulled off an absolute heist with a thrilling 51-run stand as India choked during final half an hour to lose a lowscoring opening ODI by one wicket here on Sunday.
While India produced yet another poor batting show which saw them get all-out for 186 in 41.2 overs, the bowlers did a splendid job to reduce Bangladesh to 136 for 9 in the 40th over.
However KL Rahul, who was entrusted with keeping duties to fit him and another veteran Shikhar Dhawan in the same XI, dropped an aerial sitter when Bangladesh still needed 32 runs.
Washington Sundar also didn’t go for an easy catch at third man earning the wrath of skipper Rohit Sharma as Miraj (38 not out off 39 balls) along with Mustafizur (10 not out) got the team past the finishing line in exactly 46 overs.
The 51-run stand between Miraj and Mustafizur was Bangladesh’s highest 10th wicket partnership and the fourth-highest 10th wicket partnership in a successful ODI chase.
On a track that assisted both seamers and spinners, Indian top-order barring KL Rahul (73 off 70 balls) flopped badly to be bowled out for a score below 200.
But the total that looked eminently gettable at the break turned into a sizeable one due to lion-hearted efforts from Mohammed Siraj (3/32), Shardul Thakur (1/21) and Washington Sundar (2/17).
Debutant Kuldeep Sen’s (2/37) pace was used to hit him for three sixes -- two of them during the slog overs while Deepak Chahar (1/32) despite providing a first-ball breakthrough looked pedestrian towards the end when there was no nip in the air. In the end, Miraj ensured that hosts didn’t suffer a setback in a game which should have been won with their bowling effort alone.
Rahul struck 73 off 70 balls on a day when the others struggled to get going and when the side was packed with allrounders. Rahul hit five fours and four sixes. India’s innings lasted 41.2 overs with left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan (5/36) doing most of the damage.
Mustafizur Rahman started the proceedings with a maiden, before Rohit Sharma opened the boundary count by smashing Hasan Mahmud through the gap between point and cover.