A swashbuckling 16-ball 39 not out by Hardik Pandya after Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakaravarthy continued to be unstoppable with the ball saw India take a seven-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first T20I at Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium here on Sunday. This gave India an early advantage in the three-match series as it won the battle with 49 balls in hand, making it its quickest chase of more than 100 score in the format.
Chasing a below-par 128, Pandya smashed two consecutive two fours before sealing the victory with a six off Taskin Ahmed on the penultimate ball of the 12th over. His innings was in the nature of a blitz, decorated with five fours and two sixes.
Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma started off in style with the former taking charge on Shoriful Islam in the first over with two boundaries. Next over, Abhishek smote six and a couple of fours off Taskin before he got run out for 16.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav came to bat and accompany Samson in the middle over, and they continued seeing the scoreboard on as literally because of the brisk scoring in the powerplay. They kept on hitting attacking shots to take the run-rate above 10. Suryakumar hit a knock of 29 off 14 balls laced with three sixes and two fours.
The debutant Nitish Redry came in to join Samson in the middle. It had already been built into a strong foundation in the powerplay when India had reached 71/2 in the first six overs. Samson could not take his side any further from there and lost his wicket to Mehidy Hasan Miraz at the eighth over for a well-crafted 29 off 19 balls.
Pandya and Redey ensured India didn't receive any further hiccup in the chase. The senior batsman took it as a task and shown his hard-hitting class to take India home. Redey remained unbeaten on 16 as Pandya scored an unbeaten 39*.
Earlier, Arshdeep Singh (3-14) and Varun Chakravarthy (3-31) clinched three wickets each to bowl out Bangladesh for 127.
After Bangladesh put into bat first, the openers Parvez Hossain Emon and Litton Das failed to provide the desired start to the side. Arshdeep struck on the fifth ball of the match by getting rid of Litton at 4 with the top edge of his bat.
In the very next over itself, the left-arm pacer cleaned up Emon at 8 to add more trouble to Bangladesh's innings.
Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and Towid Hridoy tried to rebuild and kept the scoreboard ticking in the powerplay. Shanto made the most of the first bowling change by Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav in the fifth over. Bangladesh captain smashed back-to-back fours off Varun Chakravarthy before hitting six on the final ball to pile up 15 runs from the over.
Debutant Mayank Yadav walked in on the final over of the field restriction and bowled a maiden while clocking the maximum speed of 147.3 kmph. He joined the likes of Ajit Agarkar and Arshdeep to bowl a maiden in his first T20I over for India.
Bangladesh were 39/2 after 6 overs. But Chakravarthy regained some lost ground when he bowled a career best delivery in the very next over which was got by Hridoy, who scored 12. Hardik Pandya took the catch at long-on to send him back in the pavilion. Mahmudullah walked out at No. 5 but wasn't allowed much time. Mayank sent him back in his second over with his maiden international wicket. Mahmudullah could score just one run. Bangladesh were now 43/4.
Shanto put together a brief 14-run partnership with Jaker Ali before Chakravarthy sent half the side back to the pavilion.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz combined with his captain in the middle and added 18 runs before spinner Washington Sundar caught Shanto on his own bowling to leave Bangladesh six wickets down.
Some resistance came in the form of crucial runs contributed by tailenders Rishad Hossain (11) and Taskin Ahmed (12) as Mehidy was at the crease on the other end.
Pandya uprooted Shoriful Islam's (1) off stump before Arshdeep cleaned up Mustafizur Rehman (1) on the penultimate delivery of the match. Mehidy remained unbeaten on 35 runs off 32 balls, including three fours, as Bangladesh were bowled out for 127 in 19.5 overs.
Brief scores: India 132/3 in 11.5 overs (Hardik Pandya 39 not out, Suryakumar Yadav 29; Mehidy Hasan Miraz 1-7) beat Bangladesh 127/10 in 19.5 overs (Mehidy Hasan Miraz 35 not out, Najmul Hossain Shanto 27; Arshdeep Singh 3-14, Varun Chakravarthy 3-31) by seven wickets.
