With 34 needing from 2 overs, in walked Dinesh Karthik to bat along with his partner at the other end Vijay Shankar. The margin for victory was brought down to 12 in the final over. Bangladesh stunned India when they dismissed Shankar of the fifth ball of the Indian run chase. This meant that India needed 6 to win off the final ball and Dinesh Karthik emerged as the Indian saviour. He hit a six over covers to help India win the match. Karthik scored 29 off 8 deliveries to stun Bangladesh who at the end were so near yet so far.
Karthik helped India snatch a win from the jaws of defeat, as Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan lauded his efforts in his post-match press conference.
Regarding the tactics of bowling Soumya Sarkar in the final over. Shakib said “I didn’t tell [Soumya] anything in particular. “It is better not to tell a bowler [too much]. I just told him to take his time. Sometimes you can rush into a delivery and then miss your length. I think he bowled very well for three overs and in fact, I can’t really blame anyone; we just had two bad overs. I am not blaming anyone. I am really proud of the team’s bowling and fielding effort.”
Many wondered why Shakib opted to use Hossain for the penultimate over rather than the bigger pressure situation in the final over. The skipper had an explanation behind the decision: “When Mustafizur [Rahman] bowled that brilliant over [the 18th, featuring one wicket and just one leg bye], India were left needing [34] off the last two overs. Rubel was our best bowler today after the way he bowled his first three overs. I believed in him. I thought even if he bowled badly, he would go for 15 runs.”
Shakib concluded his interaction with the media, giving due credit to Dinesh Karthik for taking India home. “He (Rubel) didn’t miss [his lengths] by much. I don’t know many batsmen who can hit a six off the first ball, and then keep hitting the boundaries. There are very few instances in history. There was something other-worldly about it. Rubel got a bit nervous after going for 10 runs off the first two balls. I still feel that I will back him the next time such a situation comes.”
