The Indian team bounced back from their defeat in the opening game of the T20 tri-series in Sri Lanka when they defeated Bangladesh in the second match on Thursday.
After captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field first, the Indian bowlers restricted their opponents to a modest 139-8, after which opener Shikhar Dhawan powered the chase with a 43-ball 55. India sailed past the target in the 19th over, winning by six wickets, in the process extending their undefeated record against Bangladesh
The Indian team had taken a pounding in the opening match of the tri-series, with the hosts Sri Lanka chasing down a target of 175 quite comfortably in 18.3 overs. On Thursday, the Indian bowlers discovered their rhythm and did the job that was expected of them; the bowlers – pacers and spinners alike – created several chances and built pressure. The spin duo of Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal strangled the opposition batsmen; they only conceded 5 boundaries in their eight overs and bowled a total of 24 dot balls. The three quicks were a little expensive, but they struck at regular intervals, never allowed a partnership to blossom, and collected 6 wickets between them.
Jaydev Unadkat returned India’s most successful bowler in the match; he returned figures of 3-38 – his best in T20Is. Vijay Shankar, who returned figures of 2-32 – his scalps being those of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah – was named Man of the Match.
Shikhar Dhawan powered India’s chase with a stroke-filled half-century. The left-hander has been in smashing form in recent times, and he extended the purple patch he has been in by scoring 55 from 43 balls. With the Bangladesh bowlers repeatedly bowling short, Dhawan favoured the leg-side; over 78% of his runs came on the leg-side of the ground, and a significant portion of them were in the region backward of square.
Together with his 55, Dhawan has now scored a total of 288 runs in his last five innings in T20 Internationals – which is the highest aggregate runs by Indian openers in five consecutive T20I innings. The left-hander – who was the top run-getter in the T20I series in South Africa – has now made scores of 72, 24, 47, 90 & 55 not out in his last five innings.
Dhawan, it appears, has developed a liking for playing in Sri Lanka. On the tour of the Island Nation last year, he scored a total of 548 runs in 8 innings across the three formats and even won the Player of the series award in the 3-Test rubber. In international matches in Sri Lanka, he currently averages in excess of 60 in all the three formats.
The Indian team management will hope Dhawan can keep alive his romance with the Island Nation and can continue to pile on the runs in the rest of the tri-series. The Indian team will enjoy a 3-day break before their next fixture, which will be against hosts Sri Lanka on March 12.
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