IND vs BAN: How India imploded against Bangladesh in crazy last half an hour

Team India endured a tough defeat in the series opener against Bangladesh on Sunday, losing the first ODI by one wicket in a low scoring encounter. The proceedings started with Shakib Al Hasan and Ebadot Hossain blowing the Indian batting line-up, which could only last till 41.2 overs.

In response, India kept things tight for Bangladesh in the 187-run chase and were almost on the brink of a win, before tailender Mehidy Hasan played a blinder of a knock and helped the hosts chase down the target in 46 overs.

Mehidy along with Mustafizur stitched an unbeaten 51-run stand for the final wicket, which was also the second-highest for Bangladesh in ODIs for the tenth wicket. It was also the fourth-highest partnership for the tenth wicket in a successful run-chase in men's ODIs.

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Here are a few pointers, which constituted in India's shocking defeat in Dhaka on Sunday:

Dogged Mustafizur

Bangladesh were well on course towards a victory before Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj brought India back into business by removing Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim in consecutive balls.

Shortly after Bangladesh lost three more wickets and were reduced to 136/9 in the 40th over and victory looked out of sights for the hosts.

However, Mustafizur Rahman, who generally shines with the ball, saved the day for Bangladesh by playing a perfect second fiddle, while Mehidy took charge.

Mustafizur arrived in the middle in 39.3 overs, and faced just 11 balls before the contest was wrapped. However, in the 11 deliveries Mustafizur faced, he scored 10 runs, which also included two boundaries.

Not just that but Mustafizur also had to face Thakur for four consecutive balls in the 45th over, which he dealt with no difficulties.

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Mehidy Hasan’s knock for the ages

When Mustafizur arrived in the middle, Mehidy was yet to open his account and by the time the 40th over ended, he was batting on 1 from 9 balls. However, what followed next lighted up the Shere-E-Bangla crowd.

With Bangladesh still requiring 47 in the final 10 overs, Mehidy started off by smashing debutant Kuldeep Sen for two maximums. He cleverly played out the next over by Siraj as only one run came off it.

The tailender then smoked three fours off Deepak Chahar's over, as Bangladesh required only 14 runs from the final six overs.

With Bangladesh needing eight runs, with five overs still in the contest, Mehidy once again hit Chahar for a four and wrapped up the contest in the final ball of the same over.

No Indian spinners

Earlier after inviting India to bat first, Shakib ran through the Indian middle-order, however, the Indian spinners Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Ahmed failed to produce a similar show. While Sundar was effective as he picked two wickets in the five overs he bowled, India skipper Rohit Sharma didn't show any confidence on the spin department as he kept employing the pacers to pick the final wicket, which they couldn't do.

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Extra pace allowing Bangladesh to go hard

With Mehidy attempting the big hits, the extra pace did help his case. Two of his sixes, which came off Kuldeep Sen's over just managed to cross the fence and the bowler's pace surely played a part in it.

In fact, in the over when Mehidy slammed three boundaries against Chahar, one came off a leading edge, which flew over backward point. Another one came, when Mehidy showed good innovation as he shuffled across the crease and used Chahar's pace to beat the short fine leg fielder.

In another instance, Mustafizur got an inside edge in the 45th over, as the ball raced away for four towards the fine leg region.

Woeful fielding

While bowlers did ensure that India gave a fight to Bangladesh, they were not at all assisted by the fielders. The match would have ended in the 43rd over itself, but India made two costly errors in consecutive deliveries.

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Kl rahul game changer once again drop catch in fielding 50 run partnership last wicket won the match.. Rohit sharma impressive captaincy record continues. pic.twitter.com/oxWU96Deng — arjun arj (@arjunnatarajan6) December 4, 2022

KL Rahul missed an easy chance in the third ball of the over, while Washington Sundar didn't attempt for an easy catch in the very next ball, thus leaving his skipper frustrated.

This was not the end, in the final ball of the 44th over, Sundar made another mistake, which resulted in a boundary and titled the match more into Bangladesh's favour.

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