Asia Cup: Rohit, Nehra script India's 45-run thrashing of Bangladesh

MirpurFavourites India launched theircampaign in style as they thrashed Bangladesh by 45 runsriding on a brilliant 83 by Rohit Sharma in the openingencounter of the Asia Cup T20 tournament here todayPut into bat on a pacerfriendly wicket India scored achallenging 166 for six with Rohit scoring his runs underpressure after they were reduced to 42 for three at one stageHardik Pandya 31 off 18 balls was the other notablecontributorIn reply Bangladesh were never in the game beingrestricted to 121 for seven in the stipulated 20 overs at theShereBangla National StadiumAshish Nehra congratulated by his teammates after he claimed a Bangladesh wicketin the Asia Cup T20 tournament at The ShereBangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday PicAFPTheir decision to prepare a greenish wicket and unleashfour pacers boomeranged badly as the home teams batsmen couldneither handle spin or pace and were virtually decimated onthedayVeteran Ashish Nehra 323 was literally unplayable withhis variations as well as brisk pace that he generated He wason a hattrick in his final overJasprit Bumrah 123 in 4 overs also dealt an initialblow while Pandya 123 in 4 overs Ravichhandran Ashwin123 in 4 overs and Ravindra Jadeja 025 in 4 oversmaintained the pressure to indicate the real difference inquality between the two sidesIt was a welcome victory for India and their skipperMahendra Singh Dhoni on Bangladesh soil after their disastrousODI series loss here last yearEarlier Man of the MatchRohit struck a scintillating83 off 55 balls under pressure to propel India to achallenging 166 for six against BangladeshHis team sent into bat Rohit built his innings toperfection amidst a toporder collapse hitting seven foursand three sixes as the 25000 strong partisan Bangladeshi fanswere stunned into silenceHe was complemented well by young Hardik Pandya whosmashed a quickfire 18ball 31 including a huge six off hometeams wonder boy Mustafizur Rahaman and four boundaries atthe Shere Bangla National StadiumThe RohitPandya stand yielded 61 runs for the fifthwicket in only 43overs Their 50 run stand came off just 17ballsIndia opener Rohit Sharma L acknowledges the crowd after reaching his halfcentury against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup T20 tournament at The ShereBangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday PicAFPWhile India got into trouble at 52 for three after first10 overs the next half saw them score a whopping 114 runsprimarily due to Rohit who enthralled one and all with hisdazzling stroke playWhen he was finally out to brilliant catch in the deeptaken by Soumya Sarkar India had not only recovered but werealso on way to setting a competitive target Skipper MahendraSingh Dhoni finished the innings with a pulled six off AlAminHossain 337Rohit also added 55 runs for the fourth wicket withYuvraj Singh after India were in trouble at 42 for threeA freeflowing stroke player Rohit curbed his naturalgame in the beginning taking into account the nature of thepitch and the position that his team was in with the top threealready in the dugoutIn fact he scored his first 20 runs off 24 balls withIndia managing only 52 runs in the first 10 oversThe turning point was the 11th over of the Indian inningsbowled by Taskin Ahmed On a personal score of 21 Rohitslashed hard at a Taskin delivery but Shakib al Hasan atpoint dropped the catch and the complexion of the gamechanged drasticallyRohit took full advantage of the drop as the next threedeliveries yielded 14 runs including two fours and a six Thefirst shot was between point and third man for thesecond one he used the bounce to slash it over deep point andthe third was steered with Mustafizur at third man letting itslip between his legsThere was no stopping Rohit as he played a perfectNataraja Shot patented by the legendary Kapil Dev pullingthe Bangladesh captain behind square leg for a boundaryYuvraj also got some confidence as he played an ondriveoff Mustafizur to collect a boundary Rohit completed his 10thT20 International 50 off 42 balls with a single off Shakib AlHasanBut after the first big hit that Yuvraj tried he holedout at the deep midwicket boundary off Shakibs bowlingcaught by SarkarBut Rohit continued to plunder runs as he stepped out todeposit Mashrafe over longoff for his second six followed bya pulled one bounce four and then a picture perfect coverdriveEarlier put into bat on a pacerfriendly wicket Indialost opener Shikhar Dhawan 2 Virat Kohli 8 and SureshRaina 12 to be reduced to 42 for three before Rohit did thestar turnWhile defending Nehra got one to swing back to castlerighthanded opener Mohammed Mithun 1 while Soumya Sarkargot one from Bumrah that kicked up a bit more kissing hisgloves before Dhoni pouched on it gleefully Bangladesh were15 for two at that stageImrul Kayes 14 was removed by Ashwin with Yuvraj Singhtaking a good catch at deep fine leg Bangladesh were thenreduced to 51 for three in 10 overs Once Shakib Al Hasan 3was runout after trying to steal a single Bangladesh couldnever really recoverToo many dot balls only added to the pressure as Dhonikept the accurate Jadeja for the rear part of the Bangladeshinnings Once Shabbir Rahaman 44 was out the local fansstarted leaving the standsBrief ScoresIndia 1666 in 20 overs Rohit Sharma 83 Hardik Pandya31 AlAmin Hossain 337Bangladesh 1217 in 20 overs Sabbir Rahman 44 AshishNehra 323