Bangladesh experienced a 77-run defeat to India in the third and final One Day International of a three-match series in Dhaka on Wednesday disheartening crores of cricket fans from inflecting a Banglawash over their mighty opponents. However, the hosts won the three-match series 2-1 for the first time against their close-door neighbour. The visitors scored 317 runs for 6 wickets after Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza won toss and chose to bowl first against them at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. In reply, Bangladesh were all out in 47 overs scoring 240 runs. Chasing a massive 318-run target, Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal (5) faced an LBW in the last delivery of 2nd over bowled by Dhawal Kulkarni. Bangladesh lost first wicket for 8. Soumya Sarkar then played a brisk innings and added 54 runs off 44 balls with Litton Das in the second wicket partnership. The 22-year left hand batsman scored 40 runs off 34 balls hitting 5 fours and 2 sixes before being beaten by a slower off Kulkarni. Litton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim then made another 50-run partnership in the 3rd wicket. Rahim was caught by Dhoni off Suresh Raina in the last delivery of 19th over. He scored 24 off 30. Litton Das could not carry on further and was bowled by Axar Patel in the 22th over. He scored 34 runs off 50 balls. Sabbir Rahman then tried to repair the early losses and first made a 30-run partnership off 28 balls with Shakib Al Hasan and then another 49-run partnership off 38 balls with Nasir Hossain. Shakib was unable to support him and was out for 20. Sabbir later was bowled by Stuart Binny in the 33rd over. He scored 43 runs off 38 balls with 6 fours. Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza who faced 9 balls failed to add any runs. Nasir Hossain also departed after refreshing some hopes of inflecting Banglawash over India by adding 32 runs off 32 balls. The tail-enders could not able to show any extra-ordinary batting performance and was folded for 240. India’s part-time bowler Suresh Raina claimed 3 wickets for 45 runs while Ravichandran Ashwin and Dhawal Kulkarni picked up 2 wickets each. Earlier, Mustafizur Rahman, the 19-year left-hand pacer, who got 11 wickets in last two matches, made the first strike to get India opener Rohit Sharma (29) caught by Litton Das behind the stumps off a cutter in the last delivery of 7th over when the visitors were asked to bat first. Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli then made a 75-run partnership in the second wicket to rebuild the batting. Dhawan completed his fifty off 50 balls hitting 7 fours. However, Nasir Hossain would have got Dhawan in the 5th delivery of 15th over if wicketkeeper Litton Das could hold his catch. World’s number one all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan came into attack in the 20th over and bowled Virat Kohli (25) in his 5th delivery. Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe then dismissed Dhawan in the 27th over as Nasir Hossain took a stunning catch at midwicket. Dhawan scored 75 runs off 72 balls with 10 boundaries. From there on India captain MS Dhoni and middle order batsman Ambati Rayudu made a 93-run partnership in the 4th wicket. Dhoni smashed a fifty and was caught by Mustafizur Rahman off Mortaza. The Indian skipper scored 69 runs off 77 balls hitting 6 fours and 1 six. Before that Mashrafe also bagged Rayudu’s wicket who scored 44. Suresh Raina and Stuart Binny then added 33 quick runs from 20 balls to take the score past 300. Mustafizur bowled Raina (38) in the 49th over. Binny was unbeaten on 17 while Axar Patel on 10 as they finished the innings at 317 for 6. Mortaza finished his 10 overs claiming 3 wickets for 76 runs. Mustafizur bowled 5 over in his first spell and bagged one wicket for 25 runs. He took 2 wickets for 57 runs. Bangladesh won the series 2-1 by outplaying the visitors in the first two matches with 79-run and 6-wicket victories respectively.
