OTD| Hardik Pandya bowled the historic final over against Bangladesh to beat them in the T20 World Cup 2016

In this article, we will discuss the On This Day | Hardik Pandya bowled the historic final over against Bangladesh to beat them in the T20 World Cup 2016. The hosts India reached the semi-finals in the T20 World Cup 2016. But it was not smooth sailing for the hosts as they had to go through some nail-biting thrillers. In the group stage, India clashed with Bangladesh at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Bengaluru has traditionally been producing run fests but this match was a low-scoring cliffhanger. 

First Innings

A win in this fixture was extremely crucial for both sides as their qualification to the knockouts had a lot to do with this result. Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and elected to field first. The Indian openers got off to an impressive start as they added 42 runs in the powerplay. But India suffered a blow just when the powerplay was about to get over. On the last ball of the powerplay, Mustafizur Rahman dismissed the dangerous Rohit Sharma. His partner Shikhar Dhawan also had to find a place in the dugout as he was caught leg before wicket the very next over. 

Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina stitched a partnership to keep the team afloat. The duo added nearly 50 runs. However, India could never get the momentum in terms of run rate. Eventually, the hosts scored 146 runs at the end of the first innings. It was certainly a below-par score, especially on a venue like Bengaluru. 

Second Innings

The Indian team needed to bowl out of their skin to defend this target as defending such a low total was never going to be easy for India. R Ashwin got the first breakthrough for India when he dismissed the opener Mohammad Mithun in the third over. However, Bangladesh soon came out of this setback as Tamim Iqbal and Sabbir Rahman charged the Indian bowlers. The chasing side was in a pole position at one point with 55/1 on the board in 7.3 overs. But India made a strong comeback by reducing Bangladesh to 95/5. The match was hanging in balance.

A vital partnership between Soumya Sarka and Mahmudullah kept Bangladesh in the contest. The match approached a thrilling end as India needed to defend just 10 runs in the last over with Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim on the crease. The ball was handed over to Hardik Pandya. It was a big responsibility for the youngster. 

Mushfiqur smashed him for a boundary on the second ball of the over. The wicketkeeper batter repeated the result on the next delivery as well. Now the match was heavily inclined in Bangladesh’s favour as they needed only 2 runs in 3 balls. But then unfolded one of the biggest throwaways in cricket history. Mushfiqur went for the glory but was caught by Shikhar Dhawan at deep midwicket. Hardik followed this up by dismissing Mahmudullah on the next ball. On the last delivery, the batter swung his bat but missed and MS Dhoni made an unbelievable sprint to dislodge the bails. India defended the target successfully and won the match by just 1 run.