Dhawan powers India to victory over Bangladesh

Colombo: Opener Shikhar Dhawan hit his second successive Twenty20 half-century to help India thrash Bangladesh by six wickets and register their first win in the tri-nation tournament on Thursday. Chasing 140 for victory, India rode on Dhawan’s 43-ball 55 to achieve their target with eight balls to spare at Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium. India, who won the toss and opted to bowl, gained the upper hand after pacemen Jaydev Unadkat and Vijay Shankar shared five wickets between them to restrict Bangladesh to 139-8. “I think it was a great performance, something that was expected from us. Right from the start to the end, it was clinical and a complete team effort,” India skipper Rohit Sharma said after the win. “Bowlers executed plans very well. We kept it simple and got the basics right, which was missing in the first game.” Dhawan, whose 90 went in vain in India’s opening loss against hosts Sri Lanka on Tuesday, then made sure that his side cruise home, despite initially slumping to 40-2. Sharma faltered in his second successive outing after chopping a delivery onto his stumps from left-arm paceman Mustafizur Rahman. He made 17. — AFP Scoreboard Bangladesh T Iqbal c Unadkat b Thakur15 S Sarkar c Chahal b Unadkat14 L Das c Raina b Chahal34 M Rahim c Karthik b Shankar18 Mahmudullah c Thakur b Shankar1 S Rahman c Karthik b Unadkat30 M Hasan c Pandey b Unadkat3 T Ahmed (not out)8 R Hossain (run out)0 M Rahman (not out)1 Extras: (LB-2, W-11, NB-2)15 Total: (For 8 wkts, 20 overs)139 Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-35, 3-66, 4-72, 5-107, 6-117, 7-134, 8-135. Bowling: Unadkat 4-0-38-3, Sundar 4-0-23-0, Thakur 4-0-25-1, Chahal 4-0-19-1, Shankar 4-0-32-2. India R Sharma b M Rahman17 S Dhawan c L Das b T Ahmed55 R Pant b R Hossain7 S Raina c M Hasan b R Hossain28 M Pandey (not out)27 D Karthik (not out)2 Extras: (B-1, LB-1, W-2)4 Total: (For four wkts, 18.4 overs)140 Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-40, 3-108, 4-123. Bowling: Mustafizur 4-0-31-1, Taskin 3-0-28-1, Rubel 3.4-0-24-2, Mehidy 4-0-21-0, Soumya 1-0-8-0, Mahmudullah 1-0-11-0, Nazmul 2-0-15-0.