Dhoni runs Bangladesh out

Bengaluru, India won a last-ball thriller to stay alive in the race for the semifinals. Bangladesh nearly tore the heart out of India’s collective fandom as they pursued India’s 146, losing by just one run. Eleven needed in final over from Hardik Pandya, and Bangladesh surged ahead with two fours by Mushfiqur Rahim. Two needed from three balls. Then Pandya got two in two, Rahim, Mahmudullah falling off consecutive balls. Bangladesh needed two off one. Then the dramatic run out by MS Dhoni, who sprinted up to the wicket to break the stumps, and the Indians burst out in wild celebrations.
Earlier, Tamim Iqbal had got the Bangladesh chase off to a terrific start, but it involved a poor ball down the leg-side from Ashish Nehra and poor fielding by Jasprit Bumrah at fine leg. Iqbal got a four instead of a single; Iqbal then hit the fifth ball back at Nehra, who spilled the tough catch. Mohammad Mithun fell in the third over, and at 12/1 after three overs, it no more looked like a great start.
Then Iqbal changed gears. He got lucky once more in the fifth over when Bumrah dropped him off Ravichandran Ashwin. Iqbal had swept Ashwin, the ball took the top edge of the bat, and Bumrah judged the catch and then let it drop out of his hands.
Iqbal, who could have been out twice by the time he’d made 15, then got an opportunity to thank Bumrah for his generosity — he hit Bumrah for four fours in the sixth over. Bangladesh were 45/1 after six overs, the target was now only 102 from 14 overs, and the Indian fans were visibly worried. Iqbal didn’t hit another four before he fell in the eighth over, stumped by Dhoni, getting 35 off 32 balls. Sabbir Rahman (26 off 15, 3×4, 1×6), Shakib Al Hasan (22 off 15, 2×6) and Soumya Sarkar (21 off 21) then played cameos to keep the chase on track.
India’s off day
The Indian batting was nothing to write home about. The combined might of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Dhoni, and Yuvraj Singh was good enough for only two sixers and three fours. They faced nearly 60 balls for these boundaries — only five boundaries from these men were far from enough.
The pitch was greenish, but it held firm — the ball didn’t move alarmingly. But the first four was struck only on the 10th ball of the innings, and in the first Powerplay, only 27 runs were made, with merely three fours.
Then both Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan hit Mustafizur Rahman for sixers in the sixth over, but Rohit fell off the sixth ball of that over. This was the fourth time Rahman dismissed Rohit in five matches, and the Indian star now averages just 14.25 against him. Dhawan fell six balls later (23 off 22), and then followed a strange spell when the batsmen, Kohli and Suresh Raina, failed to get a boundary for three overs. Raina broke through with two sixers in the 11th over, from Al-Amin Hossain. But India, at 73/2 after 11 overs, were decidedly going slower than was safe. Kohli didn’t hit a four or six for 22 balls; then he got a full-toss from Shuvagata Hom, which he was able to put away for a six. He fell next ball. — TNS
Quick single
Semifinal to stay in Delhi after DDCA gets clearance
Nagpur: Delhi will remain the host of the first semifinal on March 30. The DDCA has finally managed to obtain the necessary clearance for the disputed RP Mehra Block at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium from the SDMC. But the last-minute clearance before the expiry of the ICC’s Wednesday noon deadline has not gone down well with Justice (retd) Mukul Mudgal, the observer for the World T20 matches in Delhi.

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