Finally a Consolation Victory for India in Third ODI after Losing the Series to Bangladesh

For once, Indian batsmen held well against Mustafizur Rahman and piled up 317/6 in 50 overs after being asked to bat first. Every Indian batsman made his contribution to the total after Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma gave them a good start. The much needed middle-order prop came from MS Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina. In response, Bangladesh didn’t surrender despite losing Tamim Iqbal early. Like in the second ODI, Soumya Sarkar and Litton Das batted well and every middle order batsmen chipped in. But Shakib Al Hasan’s departure and fall of a few more wickets tilted the balance India’s way and Bangladesh were bowled out in 47 over for 240. After two losses against the home side, the 77-run victory brought some consolation to India. Suresh Raina was awarded the man-of-the-match award for his all-round contribution. However, for his illustrious show with the ball, Mustafizur Rahman claimed the player-of-the-series award with 13 wickets in the series, the most by any bowler in a three-match ODI games. In the third match, he claimed 2 wickets but if he yielded 57, it was not because of bad bowling. In the 48th and 50th overs, Rahman proved expensive because there were miscues and edges, three of which went to the boundary. Earlier in India’s innings, Rahman was a picture of poise and control and didn’t allow too many liberties to the batsmen. Altogether, Rahman’s was one of the most spectacular ODI bowling performances and emarkably, it came in Rahman’s debut series.

India went into the final ODI match at Mirpur with the purpose of avoiding a 3-0 Bangla whitewash. Bangladesh won the toss and chose to field. India got off to a good start as Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma put on 39 in the seventh over, before a momentary loss of concentration on Rohit’s part cost him his wicket. Rohit tried to cut Mustafizur Rahman and ended up being caught in the off-side cordon. Afterwards, Dhawan and Virat Kohli continued solidly denying any further pleasure to Mustafizur Rahman. India scored 100 in 105 balls and looked good for more. However, Kohli was deceived by Shakib’s slow delivery to be bowled in the 20th over. After Dhawan also departed in the 27th over for a well-compiled 75 off 73 balls, MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu added 93 for the 4th wicket. This was a vital partnership for India but Rayudu got out after making a patient 44 off 49 balls. Joining Dhoni next, Suresh Raina accelerated with a 21-ball 38 with 3 four and 2 sixes. Later in the innings, two short cameos from Stuart Binny and Axar Patel helped India reach 317/6 in 50 overs.

When Bangladesh came on to bat, they didn’t appear overawed by the 318-run victory target. Tamim Iqbal was a bit unlucky to be adjudged LBW to Dhawal Kulkarni. But Soumya Sarkar and Litton Das went about just as they did in the second ODI. While the second-wicket stand between Sarkar/Das was worth 54, Musfiqur and Das added another 50 for the third wicket before Rahim got out in the 19th over with Bangladesh score reading 112/3. It was still a healthy run-rate and Bangladesh were very much in the contest. Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman and Nasir Hossain created panic in the Indian camp by some clean hitting. Just when it looked that Bangladesh could make it 3-0 in the series, wickets of Shakib, Sabbir Rahman and Nasir Hossain brought the balance in favor of India. With fight gone out of the Bangladesh batting, they succumbed to 240 all-out in the 47th over, giving a consolation 77-run victory to India.