Bangladesh battled pollution and a hapless Indian bowling attack without any discomfort as they defeated India by 7 wickets in the opening encounter of the three-match T20I series in New Delhi on Sunday. Mushfiqur Rahim starred with an unbeaten 60 helping the visitors chase down the target of 149 runs with three balls to spare. The defeat left India’s bowling attack exposed as the lack of quality death bowling was exploited by Bangladesh batsmen.
Out-of-favour Indian batsman Manoj Tiwary took to Twitter to take an indirect dig at selectors and the Indian team management after the Men in Blue’s loss in Delhi. It was a below-par effort by the Rohit Sharma-led side, who made several mistakes on the field including a couple of DRS howlers which helped Bangladesh take the game away from the hosts.
“Shocking result for us tonight against d Bangladesh team. It does happen in d game but there r so many areas to look into nd improve on. Today’s game was an eye opener 4 d people who all thinks experiences can be bought in the market,” Tiwary wrote on Twitter after India’s defeat.
Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bowl first in the game. India were off to a shambolic start as captain and opener Rohit Sharma was removed by Shaiful Islam on 9 off 5 balls in the very first over. Shikhar Dhawan then played a sensible knock of 41 runs but couldn’t find support from the other end as KL Rahul (15) was dismissed cheaply. Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant then added 22 and 27 runs respectively, while Krunal Pandya (15) and Washington Sundar (14) played short cameos to help India post a moderate total of 148 runs in 20 overs.
Bangladesh, in reply, chased down the target without breaking a sweat with the help of Mushfiqur unbeaten 43-ball 60 and Soumya Sarkar’s 39-run-knock off 35 balls.
