By Our Sports Affairs Bureau
NAGPUR: India on Sunday defeated Bangladesh by 30 runs at Nagpur here. Deepak Chahar’s world-record six-wicket haul, which included a hat-trick, roused India to a 30-run against Bangladesh to clinch the T20I series in Nagpur. Chahar’s 6 for 7 are the best-ever T20I figures, beating Ajantha Mendis’ 6 for 8 against Zimbabwe in 2012.
Chahar also became the first Indian to get a T20I hat-trick when he removed Shafiul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Aminul Islam over his last two overs to close off the Bangladesh innings. The visitors were in the game till the 12th over of the 175-run chase as Mohammad Naim dominated the Indian attack. When he fell for 81 off 48 balls to Shivam Dube, who proved his bowling credentials with a three-for, Bangladesh’s chase fell apart.
Chahar, who had removed Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar off successive deliveries in the third over, broke the dangerous third-wicket stand when he had Mohammad Mithun caught at wide long-off. Next ball, Dube got Mushfiqur Rahim bowled off the inside edge, as Bangladesh’s impressive recovery suffered a major blow.
Then un his next over, Dube slipped a yorker past Naim before getting Afif Hossain caught and bowled with a steep short ball. This was when Chahar roared back to complete the formalities.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for India. After Chahar had reduced Bangladesh to 18 for 2, Naim simply took on the bowling. He slugged Yuzvendra Chahal for three fours in a row and then scythed two fours off Dube in the following over.
With the legspinner and medium pacer taken to the cleaners, he then attacked Washington Sundar’s offspin to keep Bangladesh on track. Washington was hammered for 17 in an over as Bangladesh were superbly placed at 106 for 2 in 12 overs. When Chahal missed the stumps to complete Naim’s run-out, Bangladesh must have felt it was their day.
Shafiul Islam removed Rohit Sharma for the second time in the T20I series, this time off his third ball to briefly shock India. Then, Shafiul was rewarded for his fuller length, when Shikhar Dhawan top edged him on the charge to wide mid-on as captain Mahmudullah took a fine running catch. With India on 35 for two in the sixth over with two of their best batsmen gone, Bangladesh may have felt half the job was done.
But Rahul and Iyer clearly had other ideas, putting together a swift 59-run stand. While Rahul was calculative to begin with, he decided to take on the bowling in the second half of the innings, muscling crucial hits from time to time, ensuring India’s run rate didn’t dip.
Soon aftr getting past fifty, though, he was out when he mistimed a lofted hit to mid-off. Iyer, meanwhile, was dropped first ball by Aminul Islam, but made Bangladesh pay by getting to his maiden T20 fifty. Along the way, he showed why he can be an ideal No. 4 across formats, muscling some monstrous hits to sustain India’s momentum even after Rahul’s dismissal. This helped India finish with a flourish and give their bowlers a platform to defend a decent total on the face of some heavy dew.
