India lift Nidahas Trophy beating Bangladesh by 4 wickets in final

Speed Post News Network

Patna : India lifted the Nidahas Trophy T20 tri-series defeating Bangladesh by 4 wickets in a nail biting final at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka, on March 18, 2018, night, courtesy an explosive 29 in 8 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik. Karthik hit a six on the last ball of the 20th over to attain the victory target. Earlier asked to bat first by India, who won the toss, Bangladesh had scored 166/8 in 20 overs riding on 77 in 50 balls with 7 fours and 4 sixes by Sabbir Rahman. Yuzvendra Chahal took 3/18.

India needed 34 runs after the end of 18th overs with Manish  Pandey getting out on 28 in 27 balls on the last ball of that over. In came Karthik and hit 22 runs in the 19th over including 2 sixes and 2 fours. Karthik hit 16 runs in the first three balls he faced.

All rounder Vijay Shankar got out on the penultimate ball of the 20th over with India needing 5 runs to win. But, Karthik had changed ends and hit a six on the last bowl of the over. India finished 168/6 in 20 over. Earlier, Captain Rohit Sharma scored 56 in 42 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes while Lokesh Rahul made 24 in 14 balls hitting 2 fours and a six. Shikhar Dhawan made 10 runs with a six.

Sending Vijay Shakar ahead of Karthik could have misfired had the latter not taken command over the Bangladesh bowling in the last two overs. In hindsight, opting to bowl first was also a wrong decision by India.