India defeated Bangladesh in the second T20I of the three-match series with ease in Delhi on Wednesday, October 9. The Men in Blue registered their biggest T20I win against the Bangla Tigers as they handed them an 86-run drubbing at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
India were in a precarious position after being sent into bat by Bangladesh. The Men in Blue lost their top three inside the powerplay while they were looking to read the pitch conditions. But despite the early challenges, the hosts recovered extremely well.
Nitish Kumar Reddy, playing his only second International match, smashed 74 from only 34 balls, while Rinku Singh made 53 from 29 deliveries. Hardik Pandya also chipped in and played yet another cameo, this time making 32 from 19 deliveries. These three knocks helped the hosts reach 221/9 in their 20 overs.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav spoke to the broadcasters after the win and highlighted that he wanted the team to be put in a challenging position.
"I wanted that situation, wanted my batters (5,6,7) in that situation. Happy for both (Rinku and Nitish) of them. They batted exactly the way I wanted. You got to go out there and express," Surya said after the match.
India tried as many as seven bowlers and for the first time, seven bowlers took at least one wicket for the Men in Blue in an innings. Surya got the likes of Abhishek Sharma and Riyan Parag to bowl too. The skipper opened up on this rationale too. "I wanted to see what different bowlers can do in different situations. Can they give me the difficult overs. Sometimes Hardik won't bowl, sometimes Washington Sundar won't bowl. I wanted to see what the other guys had in store, really happy with it. It was his (Nitish) day, I thought let him enjoy and make it large," he added.
India restricted the Bangla Tigers for just 135 with Nitish and Varun Chakravarthy taking two wickets each. For his sensational all-round performance, Nitish was adjudged as the Player of the Match.
India made light work of Bangladesh yet again and have now clinched the series with one game to go. They now face them in the third match in Hyderabad on October 12.
