NEWS
Follow UsIndia lost Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav inside six overs in the innings of the second T20I against Bangladesh in Delhi, but the latter said he sort of wanted his middle-order to bat under pressure and come out on top.
India lost three quick wickets but instead of taking a backseat and consolidating, Nitish Reddy and Rinku Singh took the attack to Bangladesh. Rinku slammed 53 off 29, while Reddy smoked 73 off 34. Hardik Pandya (19-ball 32) and Riyan Parag (6-ball 15) also chipped in with fiery cameos as India amassed 221/9 in their 20 overs. The four batters hit 14 sixes between them.
“I wanted that situation, wanted my batters (5,6,7) in that situation. Happy for both (Rinku and Nitish) of them. They batted exactly the way I wanted. You got to go out there and express,” said Indian captain SKY after India won the second T20I by 86 runs and took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
That’s not it. India also tried seven different bowlers in the second innings. They didn’t need Pandya with the ball as all seven bowlers took at least one wicket in the innings - making it the first instance of seven different bowlers taking a wicket for India in a T20I game.
“I wanted to see what different bowlers can do in different situations. Can they give me the difficult overs? Sometimes Hardik won't bowl, sometimes Washington Sunday won't bowl. I wanted to see what the other guys had in store, really happy with it,” said SKY.
Reddy, who scored his maiden international fifty in the first innings, also took two wickets in the second essay. The all-rounder became the first Indian to score 70+ runs and take 2+ wickets in the same T20I. He was rightly named Player of the Match in what was his only second T20I.
“Feels great to represent India, feel so proud about this moment. Grateful for everything. I should give credit to captain and coach. They gave me the licence to play fearless cricket. I took my time initially, but after that no-ball everything went in my favour. It feels great to play for the Indian team. I want to continue in this same way,” said Reddy.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said his team repeated the same mistakes they made in the first game in Gwalior. Bangladesh could only manage 135/9 in the run chase, losing the game by a massive margin.
“I think we made the same mistakes (like the first game), not a good thing as a team. We need to improve. I think it was a good decision (to bowl). They batted well after the first 6-7 overs, we didn't execute our plans after that. Need to take responsibilities as batsmen, we have to believe in ourselves. The way our bowlers bowled, they were impressive, but we couldn't take wickets in the middle overs like I said,” said Shanto.
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