BAN vs IND 2nd ODI: Bangladesh 271 for 7 (Mehidy 100*, Mahmudullah 77, Washington 3-37) beat India 266 for 9 (Iyer 82, Axar 56, Rohit 51*, Ebadot 3-45, Shakib 2-39, Mehidy 2-46) by five runs

Mehidy Hasan Miraz was Bangladesh’s hero for the second game in a row when he made another remarkable effort with the bat. He scored his maiden ODI century in just 83 balls to pull his team out of trouble and post a challenging 271 for 7 that proved to be just beyond India’s reach in the end. This was Bangladesh’s second consecutive win. When injured Rohit Sharma walked out, India lost early wickets and were 207 for 8 when he made 65 off 44 balls to win the match. Even though he was running out of partners, he hit five sixes and brought the score to 20 off the final over and a six off the final ball, but Bangladesh won the series thanks to an accurate yorker from Mustafizur Rahman.

After beating India 2-1 in 2015, Bangladesh won the series 2-0 to secure their second victory

Bangladesh were initially saved by Mehidy and Mahmudullah with a record seventh-wicket stand of 148 to pull them out of the pits at 69 for 6 before their quicks struck early to halt India’s pursuit. Virat Kohli started the game in Rohit’s absence, but he and Shikhar Dhawan both fell in the first three overs of the chase. Later, Bangladesh spinners struck to further harm India. With a century stand, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel attempted to save India from 65 for 4, but Bangladesh could only recover by breaking that stand. India’s lower order, with an injured Deepak Chahar, only delayed the inevitable as the asking rate crept up until Rohit gave the hosts a scare after they did, with Iyer’s wicket in the 35th over when India needed another 100 runs.

When Mehidy and Mahmudullah got together in the 19th over, it looked like another low-scoring match was going to happen. Mohammed Siraj’s early movement caused Anamul Haque to be trapped lbw and Litton Das’ middle stump to be knocked over by Mohammed Siraj. Rohit injured his thumb when he dropped the batter at second slip and immediately walked back, only to bat in the 43rd over of the chase after Haque was dismissed.

One of Umran Malik’s thunderbolts above 150 kilometers per hour brought an end to Najmul Hossain Shanto’s shaky run of 21 when the batsman was beaten by pace to lose his off stump. After that, Siraj and Malik pounded Shakib with short balls and bouncers, twice hitting his helmet. Shakib attempted to attack Washington as soon as Malik was removed, but the attempt was top-edged and Dhawan took it at short fine leg after a juggle. 66 for 4 before long became 69 for 6 when Washington Sundar eliminated Mushfiqur Rahim and Afif Hossain, having them gotten off the glove and bowled individually.

Mehidy and Mahmudullah, on the other hand, got Bangladesh out of trouble and set up a late push. Mehidy played the attacking role by smoking Washington for a six down the ground and then slog-sweeping Axar for his second six as Mahmudullah dropped anchor. As a result, they found the boundaries frequently in the middle overs. Soon after, Mehidy appeared to be having cramps, but he continued to hit ones and twos and scored his half-century off 55 balls. 74 balls got Mahmudullah to his; Between them, Bangladesh reached 169 for 6 with 10 overs remaining, completing the century stand.

Because Deepak Chahar had a strained hamstring, India had run out of bowlers by this point. Mahmudullah capitalized on that by going after Siraj in the 46th over, hitting the leg-side boundary for 14 runs. Even though Siraj fell in the next over, Mehidy’s best was still to come.

Nasum Ahmed also hit back-to-back fours off Malik and smashed Siraj for a six in the next over to push them closer to 250. After that, it was the Mehidy show. He went after Malik with two drives that raced to the boundary before reverse-scooping the final ball to the deep-third boundary to make it a 14-run over with two overs remaining. He was on 72 off 74. Mehidy hit two big sixes on Thakur’s leg side off slower balls in the final over, reached 99 with a double, and hit the hundred with a full toss to midfield. Mehidy assisted Bangladesh in scoring 68 runs off the final five overs and 102 runs off the final ten overs thanks to Nasum’s useful 11-ball 18.

India’s chase lost most of its momentum when Kohli hit Ebadot Hossain for 5 and Mustafizur Rahman ripped a short ball off Dhawan, who was caught at point for 8. Washington debuted as the No. 4 in front of Rahul, yet he fell on the last bundle of the powerplay when he chipped Shakib to midwicket for a simple catch. Also, Rahul’s stay without boundaries was brief; India were 65 for 4 when he attempted a lap sweep against a straight ball from Mehidy but was caught in front.

India’s hopes were still alive because the asking rate was still below seven an over. In his usual fashion, Iyer attacked the spinners. While Iyer scored a patient fifty off 69 balls, Axar was the quicker of the two because he consistently found gaps and went after Nasum and Shakib early on for sixes on the leg side. Their stand was eventually broken when, in the 35th over, Iyer tried to hit a second six but missed deep midwicket for 82.

Axar continued to attack and scored a run-a-ball fifty, but Ebadot returned and caught him at cover with the score still at 83 off 70 balls to eliminate him immediately. However, India had few other options. Before Shardul Thakur was stumped and Chahar, who was injured, fell for 11 off 18 balls, Thakur struggled to hit his 23-ball 7.

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Rohit started his boundary barrage with two sixes and a four off Ebaot to bring it down to 41 off 24. He mostly had the weaker side of the tail for company. Mahmudullah and Mustafizur strengthened Bangladesh’s position once more by keeping Siraj mostly on strike and allowing only one run in two overs. Rohit smoked Mahmudullah for two sixes, got two lives in four balls, and lost Siraj with 40 to go off 12 before reducing it to 20 needed off six but failing to finish it on the final ball.