Thwarting the fury of cyclone Maha, the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot, witnessed a different kind of storm that was harmful to a specific 11 as, Rohit-led, team India beat Bangladesh by 8 wickets to level the T20I series 1-1.
Put on to bat first by team India, Bangladesh could only manage153/6 in their 20 overs on a ground that entertains a first-inning average score of around 190.
Thereafter, chasing the total seemed a cake wake, especially after Rohit toyed with Bangladeshi bowlers to put the game in India’s kitty.
Hare the records that were broken and forged
100th T20I For Rohit Sharma
Playing, what was his 100th T20I, Rohit (85) celebrated the innings in style as he raced to his 50 in a mere 23 balls. Rohit became the second player in the history of the game to play 100 T20Is after Shoaib Malik. Besides scoring his fifth 50 in T20Is against, Rohit smashed his 18th career 50 in T20I.
Moreover, Rohit Sharma surpassed 2,500 runs in T20Is and also equaled the likes of Virat Kohli in terms of most fifty-plus score in T20Is.
Drama On The Ground
Besides a glorious contest between the bat and the ball, there was enough drama on the ground after Yuzvendra Chahal was introduced in the sixth over.
The spinner struck in his very first over – or at least thought he had – as Liton failed to connect the bat with the ball and ended up in the middle of the pitch. Although, Pant collected the ball to dislodge the bails off, however, the umpire noticed he collected it too soon i.e. from in front of the wickets.
Despite the facade, Chahal bagged 2 wickets to reach 49 T20I wickets.
The Visitors Game
From the visitors, Mushfiqur Rahim and Soumya Sarkar, two of Bangladesh’s senior players, who had been their side’s top two scorers in Delhi, were both dismissed by Chahal.
Mahmudullah (30) became the third Bangladesh cricketer to get past 1,400 T20I runs (1,422). He went past Mushfiqur Rahim in terms of fours (113).
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Including Mohammad Naim, who scripted his maiden runs in T20Is (36), four Bangladeshi batsmen got a good start on the field that they couldn’t convert into a big total.
