Motivated Bangladesh face India in Nidahas Trophy final Sunday

FT ONLINE

Bangladesh will play their giant neighbor India in the final of the Nidahas Trophy tri-nation T20 tournament at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday.

The final of the seven-match tournament will begin at 7:30 pm (Bangladesh time) where all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan-led Bangladesh side must look forward to a maiden victory against India in the T20I format to clinch the maiden trophy in any tri-nation tournament.

But the record shows that Indians are far ahead of Bangladesh in the tournament as they confirmed the final berth as league leader beating Bangladesh twice while against hosts Sri Lanka won in one game against one loss.

Moreover, Bangladesh never tasted any win against India in the shortest format of cricket among their seven meetings, since June 2009.

Tigers stormed into the final of the meet eliminating hosts Sri Lanka by two wickets with one ball remaining showing nail-biting death-over thriller in the last match of the league on Friday.

Rohit Sharma-led Indians are more focused team ahead of the final, even though several of their marquee limited-overs players have not made the trip.

Addressing the pressmen on the eve of the final, Indian wicket-keeper cum batsman Dinesh Karthik said, “Bangladesh may have come a great distance over the past few years. They may have orchestrated two excellent chases in the Nidahas Trophy to dump the hosts out of their own party. But for India, a loss to them is still cause for mild embarrassment.”

Bangladesh lost their first game by six wickets against India before crushed Sri Lanka by five wickets with a record chase of 215 runs and again lost to India by 17 runs in the 5th match of the double league tournament. They finally outclassed hosts side from the tournament with Mahmudullah’s heroic unbeaten innings of 43* off 18 balls in the 6th game on Friday.

On Friday, Bangladesh chased down a target of 160/ 8 in 19.5 overs showing death over thrillers where man of the match Mahmudullah hit required 12 with 4, 2 and 6 runs in the last three balls of the match.

That was Bangladesh’s 2nd successive win against Sri Lanka among four victories against seven losses in their eleven T20I encounter since August 2007.

The Tigers hero Mahmudullah played quick-firing unbeaten innings with three boundaries and two sixes, while dashing opener Tamim Iqbal hammered 50 and also shared a partnership of 64 off 8.4 overs in the 3rd wicket with consistent performer Mushfiqur Rahim (28).

Returning on the ground recovering from finger injury after around a one and half month break, all-rounder skipper Shakib made the first breakthrough for the Tigers dismissing opener Danushka Gunathilaka.

Pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman (2/39) was the most successful wicket takers for Bangladesh.

Bangladesh squad: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mahmudullah Riyad, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Liton Kumar Das, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Abu Hider, Abu Jayed, Ariful Haque, Nazmul Islam, Nurul Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat and Mohammed Siraj.