The recent India-Bangladesh T20 series is under the scanner of controversies regarding Shakib Al Hasan and the Delhi smog. India lost to Bangladesh by seven wickets, making it win its first-ever T20 international against India, reports Vijayhardik, exclusively for Different Truths.

The India-Bangladesh series was in the news even before the cricketing action started. For all the wrong reasons. It started with the news of Shakib al Hasan being handed a ban of two years for not reporting a bookie approaching him. The loss of Shakib was billed as a major setback to Bangladesh.

The other reason which brought the first T20 of the series under a cloud was the air pollution of national capital Delhi. In the run-up to the match, pictures of Bangladeshi players training with air masks on at the newly rechristened Arun Jaitley stadium highlighted the deteriorating level of air quality in Delhi.

On a pollution hit Sunday evening, Bangladesh won the toss and put India into bat. After losing their last T20 against South Africa after electing to bat, the Indian batting had a responsibility to rise to the occasion.

Against this backdrop India and Bangladesh kick started the T20 series at the Feroz Shah Kotla. On a pollution hit Sunday evening, Bangladesh won the toss and put India into bat. After losing their last T20 against South Africa after electing to bat, the Indian batting had a responsibility to rise to the occasion.

The Delhi pitch known for its slow nature and low bounce makes it difficult for stroke making. But in the last game, the pitch looked decent enough to bat while it still did offer turn.

The much-vaunted Indian batting order once again experienced the starting woes in the T20 format. Before the South Africa there was chatter about India changing its approach towards the shortest format of the game.

The much-vaunted Indian batting order once again experienced the starting woes in the T20 format. Before the South Africa there was chatter about India changing its approach towards the shortest format of the game. Though selection choices show India is trying to make a transition to its new approach, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

India skipper Rohit Sharma’s struggle with lack of pace in the powerplay continues. After getting a brisk start hitting two boundaries Rohit missed a ball delivered with the pace taken off and was early into the shot and was adjudged out LBW.

The next batsmen in, KL Rahul too took his own sweet time to get his eye in. He wasted the powerplay scoring just below run a ball and India just managed to score runs at a paltry 6 runs an over inside the mandatory field restrictions. He then immediately got out as soon as the restrictions were lifted leaving India at 36/2.

Shreyas Iyer’s knock introduced some impetus into the innings stitching together a partnership with Dhawan before he got out trying to force the innings for a quick fire 22.

Shreyas Iyer’s knock introduced some impetus into the innings stitching together a partnership with Dhawan before he got out trying to force the innings for a quick fire 22. After his dismissal the left-handed duo of Dhawan and Pant considerably slowed things down which made run making seem like a crawl. Dhawan top scored with a laborious 41 off 42 before being run out due to a mix up with Rishabh Pant. India was in danger of posting a below par total with the score card reading 95/4 in the 16^th over.

The innings meandered along and by the time Rishabh Pant got out in the beginning of the 19^th over leaving India at 120/6, the momentum had been taken out of India’s innings. Some lusty blows dealt by Krunal Pandya and 5-ball blitzkriegs from Washington Sundar got India to a decent 148/6 at the end of 20 overs.

Bangladesh needed to chase 149 runs for victory. Indian bowlers struggled to hit their lines form the get go and conceded easy runs in the powerplay to Bangladeshi batsman.

Bangladesh needed to chase 149 runs for victory. Indian bowlers struggled to hit their lines form the get go and conceded easy runs in the powerplay to Bangladeshi batsman. While India did manage to get Liton Das out early, the pace of scoring was not affected.

But after the powerplay restrictions got over, Yuzvendra Chahal got to weave his web and the ball getting soft as its old stroke making became bit a difficult but Mushfiqur Rahim was holding up end of the chase with a well-paced innings.

When Soumya Sarkar got out at the end of a slow innings of 39 at the end of the 17^th over, Bangladesh needed 35 runs off the last three overs. But a mismanagement of bowling options from India captain Rohit Sharma with leaving 3 overs of Khaleel Ahmed towards the end created a logistical headache for him.

This management of resources from the captain saw the bowlers bleed runs at the end when Bangladesh needed almost 12 runs at over and Khaleel Ahmed conceded 18 runs in 19^th over

This management of resources from the captain saw the bowlers bleed runs at the end when Bangladesh needed almost 12 runs at over and Khaleel Ahmed conceded 18 runs in 19^th over and brought down the equation to four required off the last over after Mushfiqur Rahim scythed him for a couple of boundaries.

This left only debutant Shivam Dube to bowl the final over defending four runs in the final over with Bangladesh achieved with 3 balls remaining and seven wickets remaining. In the process, Bangladesh registered their first ever T20 victory over India.

Photos sourced by the author from the Internet