Rousing start for Men in Blue

Mirpur : Favourites India launched their campaign in style as they thrashed Bangladesh by 45 runs riding on a brilliant 83 by Rohit Sharma in the opening encounter of the Asia Cup T20 tournament here on Wednesday.

Put into bat on a pacer-friendly wicket, India scored a challenging 166 for six with Rohit scoring his runs under pressure after they were reduced to 42 for three at one stage. Hardik Pandya (31 off 18 balls) was the other notable contributor.

In reply, Bangladesh were never in the game being restricted to 121 for seven in the stipulated 20 overs at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. Their decision to prepare a greenish wicket and unleash four pacers boomeranged badly as the home team's batsmen could neither handle spin or pace and were virtually decimated on the day.

Veteran Ashish Nehra (3/23) was literally unplayable with his variations as well as brisk pace that he generated. He was on a hat-trick in his final over. Jasprit Bumrah also dealt an initial blow while Pandya, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja maintained the pressure to indicate the real difference in quality between the two sides.

It was a welcome victory for India and their skipper MS Dhoni on Bangladesh soil after their disastrous ODI series loss, here last year. Rohit built his innings to perfection amidst top-order collapse, hitting seven fours fours and three sixes as the 25,000 strong partisan Bangladeshi fans were stunned into silence.

He was complemented well by young Hardik Pandya, who smashed a quickfire 18-ball-31, including a huge six off home team's 'wonder boy' Mustafizur Rahaman, and four sweetly-timed boundaries. The Rohit-Pandya stand yielded 61 runs for the fifth wicket in only 4.3overs. Their 50 run stand came off only 17 balls.

score board

India: Rohit Sharma c Sarkar b Al-Amin Hossain 83, Sikhar Dhawan b Al-Amin Hossain 2, Virat Kohli c Mahmudullah b Mashrafe Mortaza 8, Suresh Raina b Mahmudullah 13, Yuvraj Singh c Soumya Sarkar b Shakib Al Hasan 15, Hardik Pandya c Mahmudullah b Al-Amin Hossain 31, MS Dhoni not out 8, Ravindra Jadeja not out 0; Extras: (B-1, LB-2, W-3) 6; Total: (for 6 wickets in 20 overs) 166;

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-22, 3-42, 4-97, 5-158, 6-158;

Bowling: Taskin Ahmed 3-0-22-0, Al-Amin Hossain 4-0-37-3, Mustafizur Rahman 4-0-40-0, Mashrafe Mortaza 4-0-40-1, Mahmudullah 2-0-9-1, Shakib Al Hasan 3-0-15-1;

Bangladesh: Soumya Sarkar c Dhoni b Bumrah 11, M Mithun b Nehra 1, Sabbir Rahman c Dhoni b Pandya 44, Imrul Kayes c Yuvraj b Ashwin 14, Shakib Al Hasan run out 3, Mushfiqur Rahim not out 16, Mahmudullah c Sharma b Nehra 7, Mashrafe Mortaza c Jadeja b Nehra 0, Taskin Ahmed not out 15; Extras (lb 4, w 6) 10; Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 121;

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-15, 3-50, 4-73, 5-82, 6-100, 7-100;

Bowling: Ashish Nehra 4-0-23-3, Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-23-1, Hardik Pandya 4-0-23-1, Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-23-1, Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-25-0