There is always some sense of excitement among the cricket fans when they hear about the T20 format. Even a purist cannot deny the amount of mesmerizing moments a T20 game presents.
The game that ends in a matter of 3 and a half hours is nothing but filled with magical and spine-chilling moments. There has been a lot of talks about the power game that is needed in the T20 cricket but the match between India and Bangladesh in the 2016 WT20 proved that there is no substitute for presence of mind and game awareness irrespective of the format of the game.
The stage was set for India against the emerging Bangladeshi side then in Bengaluru in a do or die game. India lost badly to the Kiwis in their first game and thrashed their arch rivals Pakistan in their 2nd game. India desperately needed to win their game against Bangla tigers to stay in the competition and the host nation did it, before giving the Indian fans an unforgettable scare.
The Bangla captain Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and asked India to bat on an unusual Chinnaswamy wicket. India never got going, thanks to some tight bowling from the Bangla boys as India managed to get a mere 146 runs in their stipulated 20 overs. Suresh Raina top scored for India with 30 runs off 23 balls.
Indian bowlers had a tough task to defend 147 runs in 20 overs. The pressure was on Dhoni’s men as Bangladesh had nothing to lose whereas it was a do or die game for the Indians.
The Bangladeshis had a good batting order with tremendous depth and they started their innings brilliantly and kept the required rate in check but Indian bowlers pegged back with wickets at regular intervals.
It was all down to the last 6 balls of the match where Bangladesh required 11 runs with 2 experienced and well set batsmen in Rahim and Mahmudullah at the crease. All rounder Hardik Pandya was given the responsibility to keep India alive in the tournament who was relatively young in the international stage at that point in time.
India conceded single to Mahmudullah in the first ball and the next two balls were hit for four by the veteran Mushfiqur Rahim. It was all but over for India and Rahim thought the same and celebrated aggressively after bringing down the equation to 2 from 3.
The improbable thing then happened in the last 3 balls of the over that no cricket fans could believe what they witnessed that day. Bangladesh couldn’t score even a single run in their last 3 balls as they lost 3 wickets in 3 balls to gift India an unforgettable victory.
Here’s the spine-tingling last over bowled by Hardik Pandya
Both the experienced batsmen in Rahim and Mahmudullah gifted their wickets away by playing the ball in the air when 2 singles would have scripted a historic win for their country.
Mushfiqur Rahim was the first one to get out when 2 needed from 3 balls by hitting one straight to Shikhar Dhawan at deep mid wicket.
Then came one of the most underrated move MS Dhoni has ever made as a captain. He replaced Shikhar Dhawan with Ravindra Jadeja even after Gabbar taking a neat catch at deep mid wicket in the previous ball.
The thing went as per plan for MS Dhoni as Mahmudullah found Ravindra Jadeja the very next ball where India’s best fielder Ravindra Jadeja completed a tumbling catch. These little things often goes unnoticed but showed how calculative MS Dhoni was as a skipper.
But the focal point of the game was MS Dhoni’s game awareness as he came all the way to break the stumps to run out Mustafizur Rahman in the last ball instead of going for a direct hit and proved why he is the jack of all trades.
This game will have a special place in the heart of all the Indians without any doubt.