Mirpur: India took an unassailable 2-0 lead with a thrilling 47-run win in a rain-hit encounter against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Tuesday. Defending 105 in 41 overs, India’s lowest ODI total against Bangladesh, medium pacer Stuart Binny (6 for 4) and Mohit Sharma (4 for 22) displayed an excellent exhibition of swing bowling on a tricky surface to help India to an unlikely win.
Bangladesh lost openers Tamim Iqbal (4) and Anamul Haque (0) to Mohit inside three overs with just 13 on the board. Mithun Ali, one of the two changes Bangladesh made for this match, and captain Mushfiqur Rahim rode their luck in very difficult batting conditions, adding 31 runs for the third wicket but Binny, in his second over (12th over of the innings), removed Rahim for 11 and then followed it up with two more – that of Mithun (26) and Mahmudullah (0) – off successive deliveries in his next over to turn the tide in the visitors’ favour.
Suresh Raina brought back Mohit to bowl the 15th over and the decision paid off as the medium pacer accounted for Shakib Al Hasan (4) and Ziaur Rahman (0) in the space of three balls to put the target beyond the hosts. Playing his third ODI, Binny completed his maiden five-for with the wicket of Nasir Hossain. Two balls later, the burly allrounder cleaned up Al Amin Hossain to register best figures by an Indian bowler, improving on Anil Kumble’s 6 for 12 against the West Indies in the Hero Cup in 1993. The hosts were bowled out for 58 in 17.4 overs.
Binny truly justified his selection for this match ahead of Parvez Rasool.
Earlier, debutant Taskin Ahmed returned with figures of 5 for 28 as Bangladesh bowled out India for a lowly 105 in 25.3 overs. The young pacer exploited the rain-induced moisture on the pitch to the hilt, becoming the first Bangladeshi bowler to take a five-for on debut, eighth overall. India, on the other hand, registered their lowest score against Bangladesh, the previous being 191 in the 2007 World Cup.
After a demoralising seven-wicket defeat in the first ODI, a desperate Bangladesh made two changes for this match, bringing in Taskin and Mithun at the expense of Abdur Razzak and Mominul Haque. And the 19-year-old Taskin justified his captain Rahim’s decision to bowl first, taking the wickets of Robin Uthappa, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ambati Rayudu, Binny and Amit Mishra in his spell.
While Taskin stole the show, it was Mashrafe Mortaza who dealt India the first blow, trapping last-match Man-of-the-Match Ajinkya Rahane for a duck off the second ball of the match. The visitors were 14 for 1 in 5.4 overs when the rain came.
Play resumed after a gap of more than two hours, reducing the match to 41 overs-a-side. The slow and low wicket turned into a bouncy one after resumption and Taskin made the most of it. While Uthappa (14) fell victim to a poorly-executed pull, Pujara (11) and Rayudu (1) fell lbw to brilliant deliveries. Pujara consumed 34 balls and hurt his bid for a berth in the 2015 World Cup team a great deal.
Wriddhiman Saha (5) also fell lbw to Mortaza. However, it was the wicket of captain Raina that doused India’s any hopes of revival. Raina (27 off 23 balls) responded to Binny’s call for a second but failed to beat Al Amin’s throw from deep square leg. Mortaza was quick to dislodge the bails at the non-striker’s end. Akshar Patel hit two attractive boundaries before Al Amin bowled him for eight.
Taskin added the wickets of Binny and Mishra to his tally. Binny edged one to wicketkeer Rahim while Mishra found himself trapped in front of the wickets. Shakib ended India’s innings with the wicket of Umesh Yadav (17).
The third and last ODI of the series will be played here on Thursday.
Brief score: India 105 in 25. 3 overs (Raina 27; Taskin 5/28) beat Bangladesh 58 all out in 17.4 overs (Mithun 26; Binny 6/4) by 47 runs.
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