What a finish! India were stretched to the limit by a spirited Bangladesh side before sealing a six-wicket win with a six off the last ball to clinch the Hero Nidahas trophy T20 tri-series at the R Premadasa Stadium yesterday.
India chasing 167 for victory required 34 off the last two overs and Dinesh Karthik had to use all his IPL experience to get his team over the line to provide a classic finish to an enthralling final. With the odds stacked heavily in favour of a Bangladesh win Karthik took matters into his own hands to single-handedly guide his team to victory.
Karthik hit Rubel Hossain for 22 runs in the penultimate over to leave India requiring 12 off the last six balls.
Bangladesh gambled on bowling part time bowler Soumya Sarkar for the crucial final over and it didn’t pay off. Although they managed to get the wicket of Vijay Shankar off the fifth ball it left India with five required for a win off the last. Karthik obliged in style clearing cover with ease as the entire stadium that had been supporting India throughout the match erupted with a roar.
His finish was similar to the way Pakistan batting legend Javed Miandad once won a final for his country against India hitting Chetan Sharma for a last ball six at Sharjah in 1986 in the Austral-Asia Cup when four was needed.
 India’s Dinesh Karthik celebrates victory after hitting the last ball of the final against Bangladesh for six. |
Karthik finished unbeaten on 29 scored off eight balls with three sixes and two fours and thanks to his effort it brought Rohit Sharma his first trophy as captain in a tournament.
Until the 18th over Bangladesh were in control of the match. They actually gained ascendency following the dismissal of Sharma for a well composed 56 off 42 balls in the 14th over. From then onwards India came under pressure. Manish Pandey’s departure for 28 in the 18th over brought Karthik to the crease and he simply snatched the game away from Bangladesh’s grasp. It was a case of so near and yet so far for the Bangladeshis who had put up a great fight to make the final a worthy one when everyone expected India to walk away with it.
What India’s win meant was that they were the best team of the three competing in the series and although they were not at full strength (five of their regulars were rested) they had enough ammunition in their stocks to still compete and beat the best that Bangladesh and Sri Lanka could put out.
Despite the host country Sri Lanka failing to make it to the final a large crowd was present to witness the final the majority of them cheering for India. India never had such a backing from the Lankan cricket fans for a long time who were waving Indian flags. The Indian team in appreciation of their support did a lap of honour to thank them after the match with Sri Lanka’s legendary one-man cheer squad Percy Abeysekara leading the way.
Bangladesh invited to bat first were spurred by Sabbir Rahman’s fourth half-century probably one of the best he has made. His innings helped Bangladesh recover from losing their first four wickets for 68 runs to post a competitive total of 166-8.
Sabbir who began with a reverse sweep went for his shots from the start but later settled down to play a brilliant innings of 77 off 50 balls that included four sixes and seven fours.
There wasn’t a single noteworthy partnership in the Bangladesh innings which made Sabbir’s knock all the more valuable as he helped them amass 84 runs in the last eight overs.
Yuzvendra Chahal caused the collapse of the Bangladesh top order by capturing three of the four wickets to fall for 18 runs as Sharma bowled him through his four overs.
However that allowed Bangladesh to make a late flourish as India had to depend on their fast bowlers Vijay Shankar and Shardul Thakur to bowl the death overs. Both bowlers were spanked for over ten an over that enabled Bangladesh to get to their final score which in the end nearly won the match for them.
Bangladesh has never beaten India in this format and yesterday’s loss stretched their dismal record to 8-0 in India’s favour.
Karthik was named Player of the final and Washington Sundar took the Player of the Series awards.
President Maithripala Sirisena who witnessed the closing stages of the final presented the Hero Nidahas trophy to Indian skipper Rohit Sharma.
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