Rahane and Uthappa guide India to win in a rain-hit game

Ajinkya Rahane and Robin Uthappa had crystal clear idea in their minds when they came onto chase 273 runs – they had to go after a modest Bangladesh bowling attack. If we talk about the mindset of a Bangladesh proponent, definitely, they were 20-30 runs short.

The match was hit by rain and was nearly stopped for three hours. The revised target was 150 runs from 26 overs which was an easy ask for the visitors.

Uthappa, in particular, was quite a delight to watch, as he has been in the IPL. With the first ball he faced after a gap of six years due to his absence from the ODI side, he pushed a back-of-a-length delivery wide of backward point, easily stealing a couple. Most of his shots would have been admired by the Indian fans and of course, by Uthappa fans but the stand-out stroke was against Al Amin Hossain when he advanced down the wicket against him, delineating him as a spinner and effortlessly clubbing him through wide of mid-off fielder.

Uthappa went on to score a half century in a span of 44 balls before being sort of harshly given out by the umpire leg before wicket, and that had kissed a good chunk of the bat before smashing onto the pads. But he had to walk off.

Rahane gently paced his innings unlike Uthappa, but the former had survived a run-out chance. India were 15 short of their first win when Rahane tried to go over extra cover but he went early in his shot, defeated by the slower one from Mashrafe Mortaza and he outside edged it to the fielder at short third man who took a very fine catch. Ajinkya scored 64 off 70 deliveries. Ambati Rayudu and the skipper, Suresh Raina, took India safely home, and gave them the first win by seven wickets on this sojourn.

Earlier, the hosts won the toss and opted to bat on a low and slow deck. The stratagem was quite uncomplicated from the Bangladesh captain – they wanted to post a healthy total on board and then exert pressure on a second string Indian side.
Bangladesh had a nervy start to their innings where Tamim Iqbal departed very early in the peace, although the umpires were harsh on him. Momin-ul-Haq played a very sluggish drive away from his body, nicking one to the keeper. However, Anamul Haque was foraging the boundary lines and was clearly struggling to rotate the strike.

Bangladesh’s top order batters batted at slow pace for their first 25 overs and then the middle plus lower middle order had to change gears and press the paddle.

The debutant, Parvez Rasool scalped for Anamul Haque when the opener tried to charge the bowler but mistimed it completely, holing out to deep mid-wicket.

Shakib-ul-Hassan and Mushfiqur Rahim played a range of delightful shots and shared a partnership of 47 runs until the skipper skipped down the pitch, trying to smash Parvez Rasool but he got a massive edge on that and the ball flew straight to the mid-off fielder.

Shakib then partnered Mahmudullah at the crease and the duo shared a handy 65 run partnership. Wickets kept on tumbling at crucial stages of the match for the hosts but some cameos from Nasir Hossain, Abdur Razzak and Mashrafe Mortaza pushed the total to 272 runs.