Whitewash Visitors Bangladesh 3-0 in T20I series
It was carnage at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Saturday as Indian batters celebrated Dussehra in style on the field, smashing the highest ever T20I total by a Test-playing nation (297 for six) in the third and final T20I of the series, which they had already rapped up 2-0 with dominating wins at Gwalior and Delhi.
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In doing so, they went past Afghanistan’s 278-3 against Ireland in 2019.
Opting to bat first after skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss, India scored their runs with the help of 22 sixes and 25 fours, which is also the highest boundary count – both fours and sixes – as well as the most sixes in an innings of a T20I.
At 82-1, there’s was the joint-highest powerplay score in T20Is.
Bangladesh buckled under the pressure of having to score at nearly 15 runs per over and they could manage only 164-7 in their allotted 20 overs. Their 133-run loss completed the visitors’ 0-3 whitewash. Only Towhid Hridoy (63 n.o., 5 fours and 3 sixes) and wicketkeeper-batsman Litton Das 42, 8 fours) showed some resistance.
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Leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who was the only change in the team for the final match, replacing pace spearhead Arshdeep Singh, scalped three Bangladesh batsmen. In doing so he became the joint second fastest to 50 wickets for India in T20Is.
Speedster Mayank Yadav accounted for another two. Washington Sundar claimed one in the only over he bowled, and Nitish Reddy took one in his three overs.
Earlier, opener Sanju Samson scored a blistering century, his maiden in T20Is. His 111 was studded with 11 fours and 8 sixes and came at a strike rate of 236.17. He hit Bangladesh’s young leg spinner Rishad Hossain for five sixes off successive balls in the latter’s second over. The hapless bowler gave away 46 runs in the two overs he bowled before he was taken off the attack.
Sanju Samson smashed the second fastest century by an Indian after Rohit Sharma, and fourth-fastest by a batter from a Test-playing nation. He reached the triple-figure mark in just 40 deliveries.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav scored yet another half century, his 75 coming off only 35 balls at a strike rate of 214.29 with eight fours and 5 sixes. He became the second-fastest Indian batter, after Virat Kohli, to reach the landmark of 2,500 runs in T20Is.
He also moved up to the third spot among Indian batters to score the most 50s or above in T20Is. He now has 25 scores of 50 and plus in 72 innings. Virat Kohli is at the top with 39 in 117 innings, followed by Rohit Sharma (37 off 151 innings).
After losing Ashishek Sharma early, with the team total reading 23, the second wicket fell only at 196 when Sanju Samson departed towards the fag end of the innings. The 173-run partnership between Samson and Yadav was the second highest 2nd wicket partnership by an Indian pair ever in T20Is.
Riyan Parag and Hardik Pandya also showed no mercy, with the former racing to 34 off 13 balls with 1 four and four sixes, and the latter hammering 47 off just 18 balls with four fours and four sixes.
The most economical Bangladesh bowler, spinner Mehdi Hasan also averaged 11.2 in his full quota of four overs.
