Thanks to a brilliant 85 runs by Indian captain Rohit Sharma, India came back strongly to level the series with an easy 8 wicket win in the 2nd T20I played at SCA Stadium, Rajkot on Thursday.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to field first. Bangladesh openers Liton Das and Mohammad Naim started off to a positive fashion taking on Indian new ball bowlers. Chahal was bought into the attack before the power play overs and immediately took the wicket of Liton Das but the umpire called a no ball as Pant collected in front of the stumps. At the end of 6 overs, Bangladesh were 54 for 0.
A superb run out by Risbabh Pant ended Liton Das innings for 29. Bangladesh openers added 60 runs in 7.2 overs. Washington Sundar dismissed Mohammad Naim to bring back India into contest. Chahal got the big breakthrough for India getting the wicket of last match hero for Bangladesh Musfiqur Rahim cheaply for 4. In the same over, he dismissed Soumya Sarkar stumped by Pant for 30. The Bangladeshi captain Mahmdullah played a quickfire cameo scoring 30 off 21 balls but could not score big runs in death overs. Khaleel Ahmed was expensive giving boundaries off 1st ball in his first 3 overs.
India restricted Bangladesh to 153 for 6 in 20 overs. Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of bowlers for India with 2 for 28 in 4 overs, Khaleel Ahmed, Washington Sundar and Deepak Chahar took 1 wicket each.
Chasing 154 runs to win, the Indian captain Rohit Sharma led from the front putting pressure on the Bangladeshi bowlers right from word go while Shikhar Dhawan gave him full support. At the end of 6 overs, India were well placed at 63 for 0.
After the power play overs, Rohit continued his merry way and made the batting look easy reaching his fifty off just 23 balls. Dhawan impressed with style of batting with 31 off 27 balls before being dismissed by Biplob. Indian openers added 118 runs in 10.5 overs. Rohit Sharma was well set to get his century but got out to Biplob for his 2nd wicket. Shreyas Iyer played some lovely strokes remaining not out on 24 off 13 balls while KL Rahul scored 8 off 11 balls. Both added unbeaten 29 runs for the 3rd wicket.
India won the match by 8 wickets with 26 balls to spare. It was a dominating display by Rohit who looked in aggressive mood. He hit 6 fours and 6 sixes in his 43 balls 85 runs innings.
India 154 for 2 in 15.4 overs ( Rohit Sharma 85, Shreyas Iyer 24*, Biplob 2/29) beat Bangladesh 153 for 6 in 20 overs ( Mohammad Naim 36, Soumya Sarkar 30, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/28) by 8 wickets.
For his 85 runs, Rohit Sharma was awarded the man of the match.
India levels the 3 match T20I series at 1-1. The third and deciding T20I will be played at VCA Stadium, Nagpur.
