Nidahas Trophy 2018: Shikhar Dhawan, Vijay Shankar power India to 6-wicket win over Bangladesh
India rode on Dhawan's 43-ball 55 to achieve their target with eight balls to spare at Colombo's R Premadasa Stadium.
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. Vijay Shankar, who chipped in with two wickets, was selected the man of the match.
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.
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.
Skipper Rohit Sharma faltered in his second successive outing after chopping a delivery onto his stumps from left-arm paceman Mustafizur Rahman. He made 17.
Dhawan, hitting 5 fours and 2 sixes en route to his sixth T20 fifty, and Suresh Raina, who made 28, put on a crucial 68-run third-wicket stand.
Dhawan finally fell to Taskin Ahmed's right-arm medium pace in the 17th over but Manish Pandey, 27 not out, carried the team home.
Earlier, fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat claimed three wickets as India restricted Bangladesh to 139 for eight in the second Twenty20 international of the tri-nation tournament in Colombo on Thursday.
Unadkat returned figures of 3-38 with his left-arm pace after India elected to bowl first at R Premadasa Stadium. Rookie paceman Vijay Shankar chipped in with two wickets.
Liton Das top-scored with a gritty 34 and Sabbir Rahman hit 30 off 26 balls to give some respectability to Bangladesh's batting that suffered from lack of partnerships.
The Rohit Sharma-led India are searching for their first win in the tournament after losing the opener against hosts Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
India v/s Bangladesh Scoreboard:
Bangladesh:
Tamim Iqbal c Unadkat b Thakur 15
Soumya Sarkar c Chahal b Unadkat 14
Liton Das c Raina b Chahal 34
Mushfiqur Rahim c Karthik b Shankar 18
Mahmudullah c Thakur b Shankar 1
Sabbir Rahman c Karthik b Unadkat 30
Mehidy Hasan c Pandey b Unadkat 3
Taskin Ahmed not out 8
Rubel Hossain run out 0
Mustafizur Rahman not out 1
Extras (LB-2, WD-11, NB-2) 15
Total (For 8 wickets in 20 overs) 139
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-35, 3-66, 4-72, 5-107, 6-118, 7-134, 8-135.
Bowling:
J Unadkat 4-0-38-3
W Sundar 4-0-2-30,
S Thakur 4-0-25-1, Y
Chahal 4-0-19-1
V Shankar 4-0-32-2
India:
RG Sharma (c) b Mustafizur Rahman 17
S Dhawan c Liton Das b Taskin Ahmed 55
RR Pant b Rubel Hossain 7
SK Raina c Mehidy Hasan Miraz b Rubel Hossain 28
MK Pandey not out 27
KD Karthik not out 2
Total 140/4 (18.4 Overs, RR: 7.50)
Bangladesh will next take on Sri Lanka in the third match of the tournament, which is timed to commemorate the host island's 70 years of independence, on Saturday.
Across seven games, the three teams will battle for the title which starts from March 6 (Tuesday) and the final will be held on March 18 (Sunday). All the games will be played at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.