Nidahas Trophy 2018: Bangladesh vs India, Match 5, 5 talking points
Buoyed by an excellent opening spell from Washington Sundar and a century stand between Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, India thwarted an excellent effort from Mushfiqur Rahim to beat Bangladesh by 17 runs and race to the finals of the Nidahas Tri-series.
Rohit Sharma grit his way out of a rut on a slow surface as Suresh Raina played the role of the accelerator to take India to a competitive total in the all-important clash. Rubel Hossain's exceptional bowling enabled Bangladesh to keep a leash on the scoring rate but eventually, the total proved too much for Bangladesh.
Washington Sundar nipped out three of the top order batsman before Mushfiqur Rahim waged a lone battle to take Bangladesh to the cusp of victory. But without adequate support, Rahim couldn't quite pull it off even as Mohammad Siraj continued to leak runs at a quicker rate than the municipality water tank.
#5 Rohit Sharma puts his poor form behind him
Rohit Sharma stuck to his tried and tested ODI mantra of biding time at the crease before going bonkers in the decisive T20I match against Bangladesh. He was on 10 off 15 balls at one point of time but gathered momentum as the match went on, reaching his half-century in 42 balls.
He had been the first of the two openers to be dismissed in 8 out of 9 matches in South Africa in the limited-overs leg and hadn't gotten going in the Nidahas Trophy despite getting game time against his favourite opposition, the Sri Lankans.
At Colombo, he switched to starting slow and compiled a deserved half-century. Sadly he could not convert it into a ton despite being out there till the last ball of the innings.