India registered a big 86-run win over Bangladesh to take a 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series on Wednesday. It was a complete performance from the T20 world champions as they produced eye-catching performances across departments. After being put in to bat first, they were wobbling after losing three batters cheaply before Nitish Reddy and Rinku Singh struck quickfire half-centuries to power them to a big total. It was then the turn of the bowlers to shine as Bangladesh were never allowed a breathing space. The Indian fielders backed the efforts of their bowlers nicely while pulling off athletic catches.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav employed the services of as many as seven bowlers including Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Yadav, Nitish Reddy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Abhishek Sharma and Riyan Parag.
Interestingly, senior allrounder Hardik Pandya, who earlier scored a 19-ball 32 besides taking a spectacular running catch in the dep, wasn’t used as a bowler. While his efforts in the field made it clear there wasn’t any fitness concern, it did lead to a question why the call to not use his medium-pace bowling was taken.
Suryakumar later explained during the post-match presentation that the idea was to have a look at the skillset of other bowlers and also hinted that the allrounders will necessarily not bowl in every game.
“I wanted to see what different bowlers can do in different situations (and to see if) they can give me the difficult overs,” Suryakumar told presenter Murali Kartik after the match. “Sometimes Hardik won’t bowl, sometimes Washington won’t bowl. I wanted to see what the other guys had in store, really happy with it.”
Nitish followed his exploits with the bat by taking two wickets and for that, he was chosen as player-of-the-match in just his second international game.
India posted 221/9 in 20 overs and in reply, Bangladesh could only muster 135/9 for their second straight defeat of the series. The Najmol Hossain Shanto-led side has now just one chance left to record their first win on the ongoing India tour.
The third and final T20I will be played in Hyderabad on Saturday.
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