(Colombo): India qualifies for the final of Nidahas trophy 2018 by a thumping 17 runs victory over Bangladesh in their last group stage match. Earlier, Bangladeshi captain Mahmudullah won the toss and asked India to bat first.
India’s biggest problem of under performing Rohit Sharma got sorted in the match as he stiched 70 runs partnership with Shikhar Dhawan at start of the innings. Shikhar continued his good run of form after a rare failure in last match against Sri Lanka and notched 35 runs of 27 balls before falling to Rubel Hossain. Raina joined Indian skipper in the middle and both the experienced campaigners piled up 102 runs partnership for 3rd wicket. Raina scored 47 runs of 30 balls whereas Rohit missed out on a hundred by 11 runs and scored 89 runs. India finished on 176-3 after the end of 20 overs.
Bangladesh on the other hand wanted to turn the tables by registering first ever T20 victory over India. Opening pair of Litton Das and Tamim Iqbal could not repeat the heroics of the last match where Bangladesh chased down a mammoth 214 runs against Sri Lanka. Das(11) fell to Washington Sundar and following him was Soumya Sarkar who scored 1 run. Tamim Iqbal played some delightful shots but that was not enough to get the better of Washington Sundar who dismissed him on a score of 27 runs of 19 balls.
Lot was expected of Mahmudullah but he didn’t turn up and managed to score just 11 runs of 8 balls. Bangladesh were 61-4 when Sabbir Rahman joined Mushfiqur Rahim in the centre. The duo added 65 runs for the 6 wicket and kept lowering the deficit of runs with the balls. They were looking good for taking Bangladesh to a famous victory before Shardul Thakur dismissed Sabbir Rahman on a score of 27 runs. Rahim on the other hand showed some resistance but it was not enough to beat the Indian team.
Rohit Sharma was adjudged man of the match for his impressive innings of 89 runs.
Brief Score
Ind: 176-3 in 20 overs) | Rohit Sharma 89(61), Mehedi Hasan 1-31
Ban: 159-6 in 20 overs) | Mushfiqur Rahim 72(55), Y. Chahal 2-21.
