- A jubilant Bangladesh cricket team poses with the trophy of the ODI series following a much-deserved 2-1 series win against India yesterday
Photo- Syed Zakir Hossain
In pursuit of the hectic target of 318, almost all of the Bangladesh batsmen registered starts but were unable to prolong their stay at the middle as India coasted to a 77-run consolation win in the third and final ODI yesterday at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
The three-ODI series ended 2-1 in favour of Bangladesh with the home side strolling to convincing victories in the first two ODIs. Yesterday’s defeat brought to an end the Tigers’ 10-match unbeaten home run.
Sabbir Rahman’s enterprising 38-ball 43 was the highlight of the Bangladesh innings while opener Soumya Sarkar chipped in with a blazing 34-ball 40; but none of the lot managed to register a fifty as the relieved visitors prevented the ignominy of the “Banglawash.”
Tamim Iqbal was dismissed for five early in the innings while Mushfiqur Rahim (24 off 30 balls) and Shakib al Hasan (20 off 21 balls) both built the foundation of their respective knocks, but perished soon after as the home crowd’s hopes and expectations of a Banglawash all but evaporated.
Nasir Hossain struck some lusty blows at the end but his 30-ball 32 only delayed the inevitable.
Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin and Dhawal Kulkarni shared seven wickets between them. The Tigers were bundled out for 240 in 47 overs and were never in the chase as they lost wickets at regular intervals.
Earlier, brisk half-centuries from opener Shikhar Dhawan and skipper MS Dhoni guided India to a huge total of 317 for the loss of six wickets in their allotted 50 overs.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza decided to send the visitors in to bat under overcast skies. The home side made one change to their playing XI from the second ODI with left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny replacing fast bowler Taskin Ahmed. The visitors on the other hand named Stuart Binny and Umesh Yadav as the replacements of Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar respectively.
The Indian openers came out to bat with a positive intent and made a decent start but young Tigers paceman Mustafizur Rahman wrecked havoc yet again by dismissing Rohit Sharma (29 off 29 balls) for the third time in the ODI series.
Dhawan and Virat Kohli then added 75 runs for the first wicket to resurrect India’s cause before Shakib came in to the attack and cleaned up India’s Test captain for 25. Dhawan remained compact at the other end and reached his 14th ODI fifty. Dhawan departed after making a fine 73-ball 75 as Nasir took a sharp catch at mid-wicket off Mashrafe.
Dhoni (69 off 77 balls) once again promoted himself to No 4 and smashed his 59th fifty while Ambati Rayudu, who was dismissed for nought for the very first time in his 50-over career in the second ODI, scored 44 from 49 deliveries as the fourth-wicket pair put on 93 runs, India’s second highest partnership for any wicket in this series.
Mashrafe was the most successful bowler with 3/76 while Mustafizur picked up two to take his series tally to 13. Mustafizur’s second scalp was that of Raina (38 off 21 balls) and along with Rohit, the left-handed batsman was also dismissed by the Satkhira cricketer for the third time in the three-ODI series.
The young left-arm seamer was adjudged the player of the series while Raina was named the player of the match for his all-round effort.
Bangladesh, having cemented their place in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, will now turn their attention to the bilateral home series against South Africa comprising two Tests, two Twenty20 internationals and three ODIs.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
Bangladesh gave away the match (under out-of-field pressure )to save India’s face. Big brother India had to be given this piece of favour. Sloppy batting by Tameem & Sakib showed they were briefed not to hit it hard. Asking India to bat first was clearly a tailored mistake, meant to bluff the crowd.