Hundreds, fifties not needed in T20Is’ after win over Bangladesh: Rohit

A brilliant all-round performance by Hardik Pandya and a three-wicket haul from Kuldeep Yadav highlighted Team India's 50-run victory over Bangladesh, moving them closer to a semifinal spot.

St John’s: Following his side’s win over Bangladesh in their ICC T20 World Cup Super Eights clash, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said that putting pressure over bowlers matters more than centuries and fifties in the shortest format of the game.

A brilliant all-round show from Hardik Pandya and a three-wicket haul from Kuldeep Yadav were the highlights as Team India beat Bangladesh by 50 runs and now has moved a step further in their pursuit of the semifinal spot.

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Speaking after the game, Rohit said during the post-match presentation, “I have been talking about this for a long time now (playing aggressively). It is about going there and putting that into work.

Considering everything, we played really well, adapted to the conditions. There’s a little bit of a wind factor here, overall we are very smart, overall we were good with bat and ball. All eight batters need to play their role, whatever it is. We saw one guy get 50 and we got 197, in T20 I do not believe we need to get fifties and hundreds, what matters is the pressure you put on the bowlers. All the batters from the word go played like that and that’s how we want to play as well. There is a lot of experience in the squad and we back them.”

Speaking on Hardik, Rohit said, “I mentioned in the last game as well, him batting well puts us in a good stead. We want to finish well after the top 5, 6, Hardik being Hardik we know what he is capable of. He is a very important player for us, if he can keep doing that, it will put us in good positions.”

Coming to the match, Bangladesh won the toss and opted to field first. Openers skipper Rohit Sharma (23 in 11 balls, with three fours and a six) and Virat Kohli (37 in 28 balls, with a four and three sixes) put on an attacking 39-run opening stand. After early dismissals of the openers and Suryakumar Yadav (6), India was restricted to 77/3 in 8.3 overs. Then, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant (36 in 24 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes), Shivam Dube (34 in 24 balls, with three sixes) and Hardik Pandya (50* in 27 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes) pushed India to 196/5 in their 20 overs.

Dube-Pandya had a fine 53-run stand for the fifth wicket.

Tanzim Hasan Sakib (2/32) and Rashid Hossain (2/43) were the top bowlers for Bangladesh.

In the run chase of 197, India took wickets at regular intervals. Though skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (40 in 32 balls, with a four and three sixes), Tanzid Hasan (29 in 31 balls, with four boundaries) and Rashid Hossain (24 in 10 balls, with a four and three sixes) put up a fight, it was not still not enough as India won by 50 runs, restricting Bangladesh to 146/8 in their 20 overs.

Kuldeep Yadav (3/19), Jasprit Bumrah (2/13) and Arshdeep Singh (2/30) were top bowlers for India. Pandya also got a wicket.

Pandya secured a ‘Player of the Match’ award for his all round show.

With two wins in two games and a game with Australia left to play on June 24, India has moved a step ahead in the race of semifinals. With two losses, Bangladesh is out of the contention for semis.