Unlike in the previous two matches of the ODI series against Bangladesh, only a couple of top order batsmen of the Indian team couldn’t convert their initial starts into big ones.
But it was MS Dhoni who stood his ground. He got good support from Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina to put Bangladeshi attack in their place.
With a reputation of changing things singlehandedly, the Indian captain once again proved why he is the best in the team. Dhoni made a fine 77-ball 69 to help India make 317 for six in stipulated 50 overs in the third ODI.
It was a defining knock from Dhoni and also his 59th fifty in 231 innings. Incidentally, Drcricket7 was the first website to report that the Indian captain should bat up the order to maximise India’s chances of doing well in the shorter version of the game.
Indian opener Dhawan scored more runs that Dhoni, but he couldn’t create the same sensation. Dhawan made a well-crafted 73-ball 75 and was involved in a crucial second wicket stand of 75 runs with Virat Kohli.
For the third wicket, Dhawan and Dhoni put together a 44-run stand. The best partnership of the Indian innings came from the Dhoni-Ambati Rayudu stand of 93 runs for the fourth wicket.
By the time, Rayudu got out to a bad decision, India were in commanding position in the match. Towards the end of the innings, India’s new No. 6 batsman Suresh Raina played a strokeful knock to guide his team to go past the 300-run mark. He made a quick-fire 38 off 21 balls.
In all, it was a good batting effort that saw Bangladeshi bowling struggling for the first time in the series. The home team captain Mashrafe Mortaza took three wickets, but he wasn’t able to contain the run flow from the Indian bat.
Earlier, Mortaza won the toss and opted to field first. India lost Rohit Sharma early again to Mustafizur Rahman, who later took the wicket of Raina to take his tally of wickets to 13 from three matches in the series.
Sharma got a good start to his innings, but failed to capitalise. The story was somewhat the same with Kohli. He wasn’t in his unusual self and stroked only one four off his 35-ball stay at the crease.
