Bulawayo: A stirring all-round effort from Vihaan Malhotra (4 for 14), backed by a blazing half-century from Vaibhav Suryavanshi (72), powered India to an 18-run victory over Bangladesh via DLS method in their second match of the tournament at the Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo.
After losing two wickets in the third over, India struggled early in the match as captain Ayush Mhatre was dismissed for 6 and Vedant Trivedi made a golden duck in the third over. As the wickets continued to fall around him, Suryavanshi remained calm and continued to play an aggressive innings with regular boundaries.
Near the end of the powerplay, Bangladesh struck again when they dismissed Malhotra for 7 and continued to place pressure on India early in the match. Suryavanshi reached his 50 in just 30 balls and looked to ignite a revival for India with the partnership of Abhigyan Kundu.
Just as India looked like they were getting back on track, Iqbal Hossain Emon reversed the momentum by taking two wickets in quick succession and stopping India’s charge including the key wicket of Suryanvanshi (72). Abhigyan Kundu continued the charge of India’s batting and scored an impressive half-century before rain caused the first stoppage of the match and cut the match to 49 overs a side.
India were eventually bowled out for a score of 238, while Kundu had accumulated an individual score of 80 prior to that happening after the rain had stopped and play had commenced.
Bangladesh began their batting innings on a poor note losing a wicket in the very first over; however, they soon recovered and managed to score 54 runs at the end of the 10 overs. Soon after this, rain delayed the match further resulting in the overs being reduced once again. The new target set for Bangladesh when play resumed was 165 runs from 29 overs.
At the conclusion of 20 overs, Bangladesh looked to be in control with a total of 102 runs from 2 wickets. The changeover of Vihaan Malhotra coming back into bowl ended a 44-run partnership that started Bangladesh’s collapse. Azizul Hakim Tamim helped support Bangladesh’s position with a six and also reached a half-century during this period. However, Malhotra had a second spell and continued to build pressure when Khilan Patel took his wicket, resulting in Bangladesh losing their last eight wickets for only 40 runs as Malhotra and Patel continued their run of wickets. Henil Patel took the last wicket as India completed an impressive 18-run victory.
(IANS)
