New Delhi: Nitish Kumar Reddy came up with a sensational all-round performance, smashing a 34-ball 74 and 2-23, in only his second T20I as India put up a show worthy of a World Champion as they recovered from early setbacks to dominate Bangladesh both with the bat and ball for a comprehensive 86-run victory in the second T20I on Wednesday.
Reddy first excelled with the bat as he along with Rinku Singh (53) added 108 runs for the fourth wicket to rescue India from a difficult 41/3 to help them post 221/9 after being asked to bat first by the visitors at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here. Reddy became the first Indian player to score 70 runs and claim two wickets in a T20I.
Given the ball ahead of Hardik Pandya, Nitish Reddy bowled superbly to claim 2-23 in his four overs, and with Varun Chakravarthy bagging 2-19 in a brilliant four-over spell as the Indian bowlers strangled the Bangladesh batters to restrict them to 135/9 in 20 overs to claim a memorable victory following their big win in the first match in Gwalior.
The Indian bowlers derailed Bangladesh’s chase after the visitors had shown good intent by scoring 14 runs off the first over.
The Indian spinners continued to trouble the batters as Washington Sundar had Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (11) in his first over, catching the bottom part of the bat as the batter made room for a lofted drive. Howhid Hridoy was cleaned up by left-arm spinner Abhishek Sharma for seven to make it 48/4.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mahmudullah, playing his last two T20Is, added 34 runs for the fifth wicket but they could not stitch together a big partnership and from 80/4, Bangladesh soon slumped to 93/7 in the 14th over.
Mahmudullah struck a few lusty blows as he top-scored with 41 off 39 balls but that was too late and too little.
Bangladesh, who suffered a big defeat in the first T20I in Gwalior, did not improve much and were outplayed once again, their batters failing to tackle the disciplined bowling.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav used seven bowlers and all of them were among wickets, with Nitish Kumar Reddy and Varun Chakravarthy claiming two apiece. The Indian skipper kept rotating his bowlers, giving them short spells that kept allowing the Bangladesh on their toes. The bowlers too did a good job, bowling to the plan.
The Indians fielded well also with Hardik Pandya picking up three catches including a stunner at the boundary.
Asked to bat first at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Reddy blasted a 34-ball 74 while Rinku struck a 29-ball 53, and with Hardik Pandya stroking to a trademark 19-ball 32, India, the reigning World Champions in this format, posted a big score to maintain their chances of taking an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
India lost openers Sanju Samson (10 off 7) and Abhishek Sharma (15 off 11) and were reduced to 25/2 in three overs as Taskin Ahmed and Tanzim Hasan Sakib varied pace regularly to fox the batters on a wicket on which the ball was sticking. Suryakumar Yadav contributed only eight runs and the hosts were looking in trouble at 41/3.
Reddy and Rinku played the waiting game as they prevented any more disasters before exploding into action around the halfway mark. Reddy hammered 26 runs off the 13th over bowled by Mehidy Hasan Miraz, hitting three sixes and a four in the over in which the Bangladesh bowler sent down a wide.
The duo had earlier taken 24 runs off the 10th over bowled by Rishad Hossain, Reddy hitting him for back-to-back sixes off two full deliveries while Rinku, who started the over with a boundary, ending it with a six off a ball pitched short.
Reddy raced to his half-century off 27 balls, hitting three boundaries and four maximums. He was confident with his shots and was not afraid to take the ariel root despite watching the first three batters perish to the varied pace. In all, he hammered four boundaries and seven huge sixes before he perished to Mustafizur Rahman as he failed to pick the cutter and went for an attacking shot.
Rinku, who struck the first six of the Indian innings, hit Tanzim Hasan to the fence off successive balls in the 16th over. He had earlier hit Rishad Hossain for a four and a six in the 10th over as he scored a fine half-century. The Indians made the most of the overs bowled by Bangladesh spinners as they recovered to post a challenging total.
Hardik Pandya blasted two fours and two sixes in his vital cameo and Riyan Parag hit two big ones in one over in his 6-ball 15 as India crossed the 200 runs mark. However, the lower-order fell in a heap as India lost three wickets in the final over bowled by Rishad Hossain as the bowler ended with 3-55 off his four overs. Taskin Ahmed was the best Bangladesh bowler with 2-16 off his quota while Tanzim Hasan Sakib lost his way after a good start as he ended with 2-50.
Brief scores:
India 221/9 in 20 overs (Nitish Kumar Reddy 74, Rinku Singh 53, Hardik Pandya 32; Taskin Ahmed 2-16, Rishad Hossain 3-55, Mustafizur Rahman 2-36) beat Bangladesh 135/9 in 20 overs (Mahmudullah 41, Nitish Kumar Reddy 2-23, Varun Chakravarthy 2-19, Abhishek Sharma 1-10) by 86 runs.
–IANS