XtraTime Web Desk: Dinesh Karthik’s heroics gave India a dramatic win over Bangladesh in the final of Nidahas Trophy today as the Men in Blue beat the Tigers by 4 wickets in a thriller at Colombo.
After the departure of India skipper Rohit Sharma (56) the Men in Blue were in deep trouble, as the required was almost 12 at that stage. Surprisingly Indian team management sent Vijay Shankar to bat ahead of experienced Dinesh Karthik, and that almost cost them the match as in the 18th over, he played four dot balls against Mustafizur Rahman and due to that huge pressure Manish Pandey gave his wicket on the final delivery of Fiz’s over. At that stage India needed 34 runs from 12 deliveries which was quite impossible at that time. But then came Dinesh Karthik, he smacked Rubel Hossain through all parts of the ground and took 22 runs from that over. In the final over the equation was India needed to score 12 runs from six overs. After hitting a boundary on the fourth delivery of the final over, Shankar got out on the fifth delivery and Karthik got the strike to face the final delivery of the game and needed 5 runs to win. DK was as cool as ever as he hit a flat six over extra cover to hand India a thrilling win over Bangladesh.
The 32-year-old gloveman first played T20 cricket for India back in 2006 but this was only his 19th match – he did not play at all from 2010 until 2017 while the great MS Dhoni was irreplaceable behind the stumps.
And it felt like Karthik was channelling the power of Dhoni as he produced the sort of defeat-defying innings of which his legendary predecessor would have been proud.
Remarkably Karthik was not dismissed in any of his five innings through the Nidahas Trophy.
India were given an excellent start to their chase by skipper Rohit Sharma, who made 56 off 42 balls before holing out to Mahmudullah at long on off Nazmul Islam in the 14th over, the result of building pressure from the Bangladesh bowlers.
Bangladesh looked like marginal favourites from that point on with their victory looking likely until the arrival of Karthik.
The result was reminiscent of the meeting between the two nations at the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 in Bengaluru when Bangladesh needed one to win with four wickets left before losing three batsmen without further score.
Bangladesh’s innings was built on Sabbir Rahman’s fourth T20 international fifty and the second highest of all his 13 half-centuries across all international formats.
The No.3 batsman hit seven fours and four sixes in his 50-ball 77 before departing with ten balls remaining.
His fourth-wicket stand of 36 with Mahmudullah rebuilt Bangladesh’s innings when it looked to be in trouble at 68/4 after legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal had put the breaks on with a magnificent spell of three for 18.
Late hitting from Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who made 19 not out from seven balls, took Bangladesh to a very respectable 166/8.