T20 World Cup: India Beat Bangladesh by One Run In The Final Over Thriller

India held their nerves to register win over Bangladesh in a final over thriller. Chasing the target of 147, Bangladesh ended up at 145 for the loss of nine wickets. Score- India – 146/7, Bangladesh – 145/9.

Hardik Pandya celebrates a wicket, India v Bangladesh, World T20 2016, Group 2, Bangalore, March 23, 2016©AFP

BANGALORE: It was much more thrilling than a Hollywood flick and had all the masalas to make up a couple of Bollywood thrillers. Such was the dramatic end of India vs Bangladesh match here in Bangalore.

When Pandya was to bowl the last over, Bangladesh needed 11 runs in the final over. But hitting a couple of boundaries in consecutive deliveries, they gained an upper hand with the requirement remaining two runs from three balls. Now India had nothing to hope for but Bangladesh had everything to do so.

This might have made them over confident which prompted them to go for big hits to finish the match in style. In the fourth ball of the final over, Mushfiqur Rahim tried for a big hit but ended up in the hands of Dhawan. Still they had the chances as they required only two runs from two deliveries.

The next ball was faced by Mahmudullah who did the same mistake. He was sent back to the pavilion with a brilliant catch by Ravindra Jadeja. Now they needed two from the final delivery. All the fielders were up and if they had taken a single, then there was chance for a super-over.

But H Pandya bowled really well and it was a dot ball ended up into the safe hands of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Desperate for a single, Bangladesh batsmen ran for a single but Dhoni ran through to the wicket to take the wicket away before Mustafizur Rahman could touch the line to complete the run, taking India to the winning podium.

Earlier invited to bat first, India put up a target of 147. Raina top scored the innings with his 23-ball 30. Virat Kohli scored 24 on 24 and Dhawan scored 23. Getting promoted in the batting line up, Pandya unleashed attack on Bangla bowlers and scored 15 from 7 balls with the help of a maximum and a couple of boundaries.

For Bangladesh, Al Amin and Rahman picked two wickets each. Shakib, Riyad and Shuvagata Hom. Shuvagata Hom picked the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli.

For Bangladesh, Tamim Iqbal top scored with his 35 run knock. Sabbir Rahman (26), Shakib Al Hasan (22), Soumya Sarkar (21) contributed decently. For India, R Ashwin picked two wickets for 20 runs. Jadeja and Pandya too picked two wickets each while Nehra and Raina picked one each. R Ashwin was declared the player of the match.