RAJKOT, Nov 7: Hosts India roared back to form with a commanding eight wicket victory to level the series 1-1 against Bangladesh here today.
Chasing 154, stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma rose to the occasion with a brilliant knock of 85 off 43 deliveries which included six hits to the fence and six over the ropes. Rohit was well supported by Shikhar Dhawan (31 off 27, 4x4) and the opening duo went on to put up a partnership of 118 runs.
Earlier, Indian bowlers led by Yuzvendra Chahal made an impressive comeback to restrict Bangladesh to a sub-par 153 for 6 in their must-win match.
Put into bat, Bangladesh could not capitalise on a good start as Chahal�s (2-28) double breakthrough in the 13th over pegged the visitors back. A quick-fire 30 off 21 balls by skipper Mahmudullah Riyad helped them cross the 150-mark.
Openers Liton Das (29 off 21 balls, 4x4) and Mohammad Naim (36 off 31 balls, 5x4) shared a 60 run opening stand.
Naim slammed profligate left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed (1-44 from 4 overs) for three successive boundaries to start on a rousing note.
Seamer Deepak Chahar (1-25) and off-spinner Washington Sundar (1-25) did manage to control the flow of runs but Khaleel�s poor show continued.
Chahal, on his introduction, had almost removed a set Liton, but Rishabh Pant�s urge to complete glovework quickly gave the batsman lifeline.
The TV replays showed that while whipping the bails off, Pant collected the ball in front of the stumps and hence it was declared no-ball. As per the law, every part of wicket-keeper�s gloves has to be behind the stumps.
Das then hammered two successive fours to add insult to injury.
He got another reprieve on 26 after skipper Rohit Sharma dropped him at square-leg following a mix-up with Shivam Dube and Pant. But Pant made up for his mistake and ran Das out, with a direct hit in the eighth over, to break the opening stand.
Das�s wicket slowed the scoring rate and that put Naim under pressure, who then gave a dolly to Shreyas Iyer at deep-mid-wicket off Washington as Bangladesh slumped to 83 for 2 in the 11th over.
Scorecard
Bangladesh: L Das run out 29, M Naim c Iyer b W Sundar 36, S Sarkar st Pant b Chahal 30, Mushfiqur Rahim c Pandya b Chahal 4, Mahmudullah c Dube b Chahar 30, Afif Hossain c Sharma b Ahmed 6, Mosaddek Hossain not out 7, Aminul Islam not out 5. Extras: (b 2, nb 1, w 3) 6. Total: (For 6 wickets, 20 overs): 153. Fall of wickets: 1-60, 2-83, 3-97, 4-103, 5-128, 6-142. Bowling: DL Chahar 4-0-25-1, KK Ahmed 4-0-44-1, W Sundar 4-0-25-1, YS Chahal 4-0-28-2, S Dube 2-0-12-0, KH Pandya 2-0-17-0.
India: R Sharma c sub (Mohammad Mithun) b Aminul Islam 85, S Dhawan b Aminul Islam 31, KL Rahul not out 8, S Iyer not out 24. Extras: (lb 1, w 5) 6. Total: (For 2 wickets, 15.4 overs) 154. Fall of wickets: 1-118, 2-125. Bowling: Mustafizur Rahman 3.4-0-35-0, Shafiul Islam 2-0-23-0, Al-Amin Hossain 4-0-32-0, Aminul Islam 4-0-29-2, Afif Hossain 1-0-13-0. Mosaddek Hossain 1-0-21-0. � Agencies
