Bowlers and Dhawan steer India home against Bangladesh in second Nidahas T20I

Shikhar Dhawan’s second consecutive half-century and a disciplined performance by bowlers allowed India to dominate Bangladesh in the second Nidahas T20I and open their account in this tri-series.

Jaydev Unadkat took three wickets while Vijay Shankar chipped in with two wickets as India restricted Bangladesh to 139 in their 20 overs. Then Shikhar Dhawan produced his second fifty-plus score in as many innings and took India home in the 19th over.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma once again failed to make an impact as he was out cheaply. Mustafizur Rahman castled him in the 4th over when Rohit was playing on 17. Rishabh Pant was promoted to number three position but the youngster failed to grab the opportunity and was bowled by Rubel Hossain at the individual score of seven.

The experienced pair of Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan then repaired the damage and kept Bangladesh bowlers at bay with their cautious approach. The pair added 68 runs for the third wicket in 54 balls before Hussain got rid of Raina when he was playing on 28.

Two overs later Dhawan too departed but by then he had sealed the game for India. Dhawan smashed 55 runs off 43 balls with five fours and two sixes. Manish Pandey, who is fighting for a permanent spot in India’s team completed the formalities and took India over the line. His knock of 27 runs off 19 balls helped India to thrash Bangladesh by six wickets and earn their first win of the tournament.

Earlier in the evening, Indian bowlers bowled tight lines and lengths to strangle Bangladeshi batsmen from the beginning. Liton Das scored 34 off 30 balls and Sabbir Rahman made 30 off 26 balls but both batsmen were never allowed to score freely.

Indian spinners Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal gave away only 42 overs in their combined 8 overs and kept Bangladesh in control throughout the innings. Shardul Thakaur who had a horrible day against Sri Lanka in the previous game came back well and gave away only 25 runs in his four overs and picked up a wicket as well.