Bengaluru: India survived a mighty scare&nbsp;before pulling off an incredible 1-run victory over Bangladesh&nbsp;in a nerve-wracking low-scoring thriller to keep their semi-final hopes alive in the ICC World T20, here tonight.
Defending a modest 146, India looked down and out for the&nbsp;better part of the match before pulling their acts together in&nbsp;the final two overs to restrict Bangladesh to 145 for 9.&nbsp;
It was a piece of inspirational act by skipper Mahendra&nbsp;Singh Dhoni, who took his right gloves off when Hardik Pandya&nbsp;came in to bowl the last delivery with two runs required.
Pandya bowled a fuller delivery wide off Shuvagato Hom who&nbsp;missed it and Dhoni caught it with only his inners on.
As Mustafizur started sprinting from the other end, the&nbsp;34 plus Indian skipper beat his younger opponent in a short&nbsp;sprint to whip off the bails to lead to an unbelievable finish&nbsp;as the entire Chinnaswamy Stadium erupted in joy.
<img title="Men in Blue celebrate their one-run win over Bangladesh" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/mar/India-win-WT20.jpg" alt="Men in Blue celebrate their one-run win over Bangladesh" />The Men in Blue celebrate their escape to victory over Bangladesh at The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Wednesday. Pic/AFP
It was a perfect Holi gift for the fans by the Indian&nbsp;team, who now have four points and are up in the second&nbsp;position in the table with a match left.&nbsp;
Credit should also be given to Jasprit Bumrah, who&nbsp;bowled six magnificent deliveries in the penultimate over when&nbsp;Bangladesh needed only 17 off 12 balls.
When Hardik Pandya (2/29) was handed the ball, pacers&nbsp;Ashish Nehra, Bumrah, and spinners Ravindra Jadeja (2/22) and&nbsp;Ravichandran Ashwin (2/20 in 4 overs) had already finished&nbsp;their quota and Dhoni was hardpressed to choose his options.&nbsp;
The dangerous Mahmudullah got one off Pandya's first&nbsp;delivery and Mushfiqur Rahim smacked the next through covers&nbsp;for a boundary bring the equation down to 6 from four balls.
To everyone's horror Rahim then played half scoop off the&nbsp;next ball on the pads which was just out of Dhoni's reach as&nbsp;equation became 2 off 3 balls. Off the next ball, Rahim&nbsp;mistimed a pull shot to get out as it became 2 off 2 balls.
With Mahmudullah on strike, he mistimed a pull off&nbsp;another full toss which was pouched brilliantly by India's&nbsp;beat fielder Jadeja.&nbsp;
With 1 needed for tie and 2 to win, it was the&nbsp;inspirational Dhoni, who brought smiles with his daredevilry&nbsp;and innovative thinking.
Ashwin was brought into the attack in the third over and&nbsp;he got Mithun Ali (1) with third delivery. The batsmen jumped&nbsp;out at a delivery that was dropped short but did not get the&nbsp;required power or elevation to clear Hardik Pandya at long-on.&nbsp;
Jasprit Bumrah, who conceded a boundary off the first&nbsp;ball of the Bangladesh chase had a horrible day in office when&nbsp;he dropped Tamim on 15 when the left-hander miscued a sweep&nbsp;shot off Ashwin.
Bumrah standing at short fine leg missed a sitter. As if&nbsp;to rub salt to the wound, Sabbir Rahaman danced down the track&nbsp;to deposit Ashwin into the stands.
Having understood that the ball is not coming onto the&nbsp;bat, Tamim was charging to reach to the pitch of the&nbsp;deliveries.
A distraught Bumrah was then smashed for 16 runs as if to&nbsp;add insult to the injury. First a slash through the point and&nbsp;then lofted over mid-on, followed by a deliberate thickish&nbsp;edge through third-man and a rasping cover drive.
It was a shooter from Ravindra Jadeja that kept low as&nbsp;Tamim (35, 32 balls) gave the charge to miss it with Dhoni&nbsp;completing the easiest of stumpings.&nbsp;
Sabbir (26) was batting well but a moment's indiscretion&nbsp;off a wide Raina delivery saw Dhoni effect a smart stumping&nbsp;(which was certainly the turning point in the game).&nbsp;
Surprising everyone, Mashrafe Mortaza walked out leaving&nbsp;Mahmudullah Riyadh in the pavilion. Mashrafe hoisted Raina for&nbsp;a straight six. In the next Pandya over, Shakib slashed one at&nbsp;deep point and Ashwin dropped a relatively easy catch.&nbsp;
Mashrafe's bravado did not last long as he was bowled in&nbsp;Jadeja's next over leaving Bangladesh at 87 for four with&nbsp;visions of a comeback.
But Shakib (22, 2x6), who hit a six each off Pandya and&nbsp;Jadeja as Indian fielders looked tense. Ashwin made amends for&nbsp;a dropped catch with a nice drifter of a delivery that spun&nbsp;enough to take edge as Raina took a simple catch.&nbsp;
Earlier, India's much vaunted batting&nbsp;line-up struggled on a slow and sluggish track as they just&nbsp;about managed an unimpressive 146/7 against a disciplined&nbsp;Bangladesh attack.
Almost all the Indian batsmen struggled on a track where&nbsp;the ball was not coming onto the bat and Bangladeshi slow&nbsp;bowlers made it even more difficult with their controlled line&nbsp;and length bowling.
Suresh Raina (30 off 23 balls) with a boundary and two&nbsp;sixes was the top-scorer but the contribution was not enough&nbsp;looking at the total posted by the hosts.&nbsp;
Shikhar Dhawan (23), Virat Kohli (24) spent considerable&nbsp;time at the wicket but could never force the pace.
Hardik Pandya (15) was showing positive signs before a&nbsp;Soumya Sarkar stunner in the deep ended what could have been&nbsp;an impactful innings. Yuvraj Singh (3) failed to gauge the&nbsp;pace of the wicket while skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (13 no&nbsp;off 12 balls) concentrated on the singles and doubles.
Skipper Mahsrafe Mortaza (0/22 in 4 overs) and his deputy&nbsp;Shakib Al Hasan (1/23 in 4 overs) used all their experience to&nbsp;keep things tight. They were ably supported by Shuvagato Hom&nbsp;(1/23 in 3 overs), Mahmudullah Riyadh (1/4 in 1 overs).&nbsp;
Al Amin Hossain (2/37) got important wickets despite&nbsp;being expensive while Mustafizur Rahaman (2/34 in 4 overs)&nbsp;also went for some runs in the final overs.&nbsp;
Indian openers looked scratchy during better part of the&nbsp;Powerplay overs as boundaries were hard to come by.
Initially&nbsp;Dhawan showed some intent to keep the scoreboard moving. It&nbsp;was in the final over of Powerplay that both Rohit Sharma and&nbsp;Dhawan hit Mustafizur Rahaman for a six each as 15 came off&nbsp;the first five balls. But Rohit (18) miscued a lofted drive&nbsp;off the last delivery as Sabbir Rahman took a well-judged&nbsp;skier.
In the very next over, Dhawan yorked himself to a Shakib&nbsp;delivery as India were reduced to 45 for two at the end of&nbsp;seven overs.&nbsp;
It was Raina, who was the dominant partner during his 50-run partnership with an unusually subdued Virat Kohli (24 off&nbsp;24 balls).
Raina hit a couple of sixes off Al-Amin to keep the&nbsp;scoreboard ticking even though the run-rate wasn't exactly&nbsp;impressive.&nbsp;
With pitch looking difficult for strokemaking, Virat&nbsp;could not hit a single boundary for 22 deliveries before&nbsp;dispatching Shuvagato to the cow corner off the 23rd delivery&nbsp;that he faced. But off the very next delivery which was&nbsp;similar and went with the angle, Kohli missed the line&nbsp;completely to get bowled.
The remaining batsmen could not force the pace as&nbsp;Bangladesh bowlers had a good day in office.
Brief Scores: India: 146 for 7 in 20 overs (Suresh Raina 30, Virat&nbsp;Kohli 24; Mustafizur Rahman 2/34, Al-Amin Hossain 2/37).
Bangladesh 145/9 (Tamim Iqbal 35, Shakib Al Hasan 22,&nbsp;Sabbir Rahaman 26, Soumya Sarkar 21, R Ashwin 2/20, Ravindra&nbsp;Jadeja 2/22).

India survived a mighty scare&nbsp;before pulling off an incredible 1-run win over Bangladesh&nbsp;in a nerve-wracking low-scoring thriller to keep their semi-final hopes alive in the ICC World T20 at Bangalore

WT20: India pip Bangladesh by 1-run in last-ball thriller

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Home / Sports / Cricket / Article / WT20: India pip Bangladesh by 1-run in last-ball thriller

WT20: India pip Bangladesh by 1-run in last-ball thriller

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast