India vs Bangladesh 2019: Mushfiqur Rahim and Aminul Islam steer visitors to historic win in Delhi
Amid all the off-field controversies, Bangladesh defeated India by 7 wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium to go 1-0 up in the three-match T20I series. Wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim played an unbeaten knock of 60 runs as Bangladesh chased down India's modest score of 148 runs in the 20th over.
India entered this match as favourites although both Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni were not a part of the team. The onus was on Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul to get India off to a good start but the three batsmen could contribute a meagre 65 runs to the team's total after consuming 64 deliveries. Rohit had departed to the pavilion in the first over itself whereas Dhawan and Rahul struggled to get going before losing their wickets.
The visiting team executed their plans to perfection and by using 8 bowlers in 20 overs, Mahmudullah ensured that his team takes the full advantage of the sticky wicket in Delhi. Earlier, the stand-in skipper of Bangladesh had won the toss and elected to field first. Three players made their debut in this match as Shivam Dubey, Mohammad Naim and Aminul Islam played their first T20I match tonight.
After the top three batsmen could not perform well, Shreyas Iyer (22) and Rishabh Pant (27) tried to attack the opposition bowlers. While the former hit two maximums in his brief knock, the latter huffed and puffed only to hit a mistimed loft off Shafiul Islam and lose his wicket in the 19th over. Shivam Dubey lost his wicket to Afif Hossain thanks to a marvellous one-handed return catch which the bowler took.
In the end, cameos from Krunal Pandya (15*) and Washington Sundar (14*) took India to a respectable score. Bangladesh raised a few eyebrows by using only two of Mustafizur Rahman's four overs but apart from that, there were no major flaws in their strategy. Leg-spinner Aminul impressed the fans on debut by grabbing the wickets of Shreyas and Rahul in his 3-overs spell.
Chasing 149 in 20 overs, Bangladesh lost their fiery opener Liton Das (7) on the fifth ball of their innings but then Naim (26) and Soumya Sarkar (35) stitched a 46-run partnership. Comeback man Yuzvendra Chahal broke the stand, bringing Mushfiqur Rahim to the crease.
The visitors dominated the proceedings from there onwards as they did not allow their opponents to take the momentum back. Krunal had dropped Rahim’s catch in the deep and, the wicketkeeper ensured that India pays a hefty price for that reprieve by hitting 4 consecutive boundaries in Khaleel Ahmed's 19th over. With 8 fours and a maximum, Rahim guided Bangladesh to a memorable 7-wicket win. He was rightfully awarded the Man of the Match for his brilliant knock.
The second T20I of the series will be played on 7th November at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot.
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