NEW DELHI: Mushfiqur Rahim singlehandedly fired Bangladesh to their maiden T20 win over India with an unbeaten 60, choking the fancied hosts in the smog-hit series opener.
Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah was on Saturday asked about the team’s meltdowns against India, choking after coming close to winning against their huge neighbors. Mahmudullah smiled: “Yes, we do lose close games to India. But what we’ll do is not worry or think about it during the match.”
They didn’t on Sunday, to win the first T20 at the Ferozeshah Kotla. After Mushfiqur Rahim and Soumya Sarkar had added 60 off 55 balls for the third wicket and brought the equation down to 50 off five overs, India had bowled a couple of good overs to raise the required run rate to almost 12. India also had one of the three remaining overs from leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who had figures of 1/11 in three at that stage.
A couple and a boundary followed and Chahal had been milked for 13 in his final over; 22 from 12 wasn’t a tough ask and with the tricky bowler off their backs, four consecutive fours off Khaleel Ahmed brought them home. Mushfiqur ended with 60 off 43 balls (8×4, 1×6). He was helped by the under-pressure Soumya Sarkar, who hit 39 off 35.
The haze cleared just enough to ensure a match at the Ferozeshah Kotla, but India showed they were very much a work in progress after scoring 148/6 batting first. Bangladesh finished on 154/3 in 19.3 overs.
(Agencies)
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