Rajkot: Ascintillating knock of 85 from 43 balls from Rohit Sharma led India to a thumping eight-wicket win over Bangladesh in the second T20I, at Rajkot.
Rohit, who is standing in as skipper for India in the absence of Virat Kohli this series, led from the front in a chase of 154, striking six sixes and the same number of fours to have victory all but sealed when he was dismissed by Aminul Islam in the 13th over of the innings.
The opener enjoyed a 118-run opening partnership with Shikhar Dhawan, who contributed 31 in a partnership that was dominated by Rohit. At one point, the 32-year-old let loose with three sixes from the first three balls of a Mosaddek Hossain over. It seemed as if he was set to bring up T20I century No.5, but a miscued shot allowed Bangladesh some respite.
From there, KL Rahul bided his time while Shreyas Iyer went to 24 from 13 as India sealed victory with 4.2 overs to spare.
Rohit’s spectacular innings followed on from a top-heavy performance from Bangladesh as a number of players registered useful starts without being able to take their innings to another level in the vein of Rohit.
Liton Das (29 from 21) enjoyed a bit of luck when Rishabh Pant administered a stumping, but only after he had gathered the ball from in front of the stumps. Having also survived a dropped catch, he was eventually dismissed with 60 runs on the board for Bangladesh after Pant ran him out.
Mohammad Naim (36 from 31), Soumya Sarkar (30 from 20) and Mahmudullah (30 from 21) were the others unable to truly go big, and Bangladesh failed to find much success at the death.
For India, Yuzvendra Chahal starred, picking up 2/28 from his allocation of four overs. But it was another day all about Rohit’s excellence.
The series-decider will take place in Nagpur on Sunday.
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