After losing the first T20I against Sri Lanka, Team India was in a spot of bother before the second match against Bangladesh on Thursday. But, Rohit Sharma-led Indian team hit back in style and register a clinical six-wicket victory over Bangladesh to win their first match of Nidahas Trophy tri-series. Chasing a below-par target of 140, India made merry with Shikhar Dhawan's 55 off 43 took them home in mere 18.4 overs on a slowish Premadasa track.
After a forgettable outing against hosts Sri Lanka in the series opener, India's young bowling unit got its bearings back with a disciplined effort to restrict Bangladesh to a modest 139/8 in 20 overs. The inexperienced line-up gave a much better account of themselves, using the conditions well, much to the delight of their skipper Rohit.
"Bowlers executed plans very well. We kept it simple and got the basics right, which was missing in the first game," the Indian skipper said during the post-match conference.
India came into the series with much expectations after the completion of a highly successful tour of South Africa where the men in blue won the ODI and T20I series by a convincing margin.
"I think it was a great performance, something that was expected of us. Right from the start to the end, it was clinical and a complete team effort. We looked into what went wrong in the game against Sri Lanka and we thought hitting the length was the option for us," the Mumbai batsman added.
On a slow track, all-rounder Vijay Shankar's (2/32 in 4 overs) wicket-to-wicket stuff proved to be handy even though he had at least three catches dropped off his bowling. Jaydev Unadkat (3/38) had the most number of wickets but he was inconsistent throughout his four-over spell with a mixture of good deliveries followed by half-trackers.
"We wanted their batsmen to take on the longer boundaries. Our bowlers executed the plans very well."
"Catching is something where there's always room for improvement. We want to get better as a fielding side. We are much better than that," the 30-year old signed off.
