In a lacklustre contest that failed to live upto a T20 international India secured their first win in the Hero Nidahas tri-nation tournament when they defeated Bangladesh by six wickets at the R Premadasa Stadium yesterday.
Bangladesh invited to bat first managed just 139-8 and India knocked the runs off in 18.4 overs with opener and vice-captain Shikhar Dhawan completing his second consecutive half century of the series.
Dhawan and Suresh Raina figured in a third wicket stand of 68 off 54 balls to take India to closer victory after they had lost two wickets for 40.
Raina missed at leg gully by Mehidy at one fell for 28 with the score on 108 giving Rubel Hossain his second wicket of the innings.
Dhawan followed suit at 123 when he holed out to long-on for 55 scored off 48 balls inclusive of five fours and two sixes.
Manesh Pandey (27 n.o.) and Dinesh Karthik (2 n.o.) knocked the required runs off to give India their first points in the tri-series.
Both teams were guilty of not raising the bar with Bangladesh alternating between hits and misses and lacking in direction in their batting and India putting up a sloppy display of fielding spilling three catches all off medium-pacer Vijay Shankar playing in his second T20I. Shankar himself was guilty of dropping a catch off his own bowling while the other two misses at 7 and 8 enabled Liton Das to make 34 off 30 balls and finish as Bangladesh’s top scorer.
The only other notable contribution in the Bangladesh innings came from Sabbir Rahman who made 30 off 36 balls.
Despite the dropped catches Shankar who picked up his first wicket in international cricket with the dismissal of Mushfiqur Rahim for 18 and also skipper Mahamudullah for one ended up with figures of 2 for 32 to take the Man of the Match award.
Left-arm fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat also playing in his second T20I took 3 for 38 that included his first wicket in this format when he gave his team the initial breakthrough by dismissing Soumyar Sarkar for 14.
India lost the wickets of skipper Rohit Sharma (17) and Rishabh Pant (7) both bowled in their run chase but with an asking rate of less than seven an over they were never under any kind of pressure.
Bangladesh play host Sri Lanka in the third game on Saturday.
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