Hit-Man's 'Maha' Show: Rohit guides India to series-equalling 8-wicket victory in his 100th game
Rajkot, Nov 7: Skipper Rohit Sharma made it a memorable 100th T20 International blending grace with brutality in his 85 off 43 balls as India cantered to a series-levelling eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh here on Thursday.
Chasing an easy target of 154 on far better track compared to Feroz Shah Kotla, Rohit showed the gulf in class between him and the others on the park, hitting six fours and half a dozen of risk-free sixes as India chased the target in 15.4 overs.
The three-match T20 series now stands at 1-1 and the final game will be played in Nagpur on November 10.
Such was Rohit's dominance during the 118-run opening stand that it managed to overshadow Shikhar Dhawan's (31 off 27 balls) wretched form.
Earlier, Indian bowlers led by Yuzvendra Chahal made an impressive comeback to restrict Bangladesh to a sub-par 153 for 6 and then the dew also played its part on a good track where the ball was coming onto the bat.
Rohit teed off in the fourth over of the innings when he hit an off-drive, followed by a cover drive and then a straight six off Mustafizur Rahaman.
It was difficult to come back from that point for Bangladesh as the Indian captain got boundaries and sixes at will.
Pacer Shafiul Islam was given the charge and hit over long-on for a six and slow sweep off spinner Afif Hossain brought up his 18th half-century in this format.
When off-spinner Mosaddek Hossain Saikat (0/21 in 1 over) tried to come round the wicket to try a negative line, Rohit hammered him for three sixes in the arc between long-on and mid-wicket.
Just when a fifth hundred in this format looked there for the taking, the skipper was out trying to hit a seventh six. Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul then completed the formalities with 26 balls to spare.
Put into bat, Bangladesh could not capitalize on a good start as Chahal's (2-28) double breakthrough in the 13th over pegged the visitors back. A quick-fire 30 off 21 balls by skipper Mahmudullah Riyad helped them cross the 150-mark.
Openers Liton Das (29 off 21 balls, 4x4) and Mohammad Naim (36 off 31 balls, 5x4) shared a 60 run opening stand.
Naim slammed profligate left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed (1-44 from 4 overs) for three successive boundaries to start on rousing note.
Seamer Deepak Chahar (1-25) and off-spinner Washington Sundar (1-25) did manage to stem the flow of runs but Khaleel's poor show continued.
Chahal, on his introduction, had almost removed a set Liton, but Rishabh Pant's urge to complete glovework quickly gave the batsman lifeline.
The TV replays showed that while whipping the bails off, Pant collected the ball in front of the stumps and hence it was declared no-ball. As per the law, every part of wicket-keeper's gloves has to be behind the stumps.
Das then hammered two successive fours to add insult to injury.
He got another reprieve on 26 after skipper Rohit Sharma dropped him at square-leg following a mix-up with Shivam Dube and Pant. But Pant made up for his mistake and ran Das out, with a direct hit in the eighth over, to break the opening stand.
Das's wicket slowed the scoring rate and that put Naim under pressure, who then gave a dolly to Shreyas Iyer at deep-mid-wicket off Washington as Bangladesh slumped were 83 for 2 in the 11th over.
And then Yuzvendra picked two wickets in the 13th over --Mushfiqur Rahim (4 off 6 balls), who gave a sitter to Krunal Pandya and then removed a set Soumya Sarkar (30 off 20 balls; 2x4, 1x6) -- as Bangladesh were struggling at 103/4. Sarkar was stumped by Pant and they never got the momentum back.
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Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis
Nagpur, Jan 10: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition had claimed BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative which BJP leaders later claimed hit the party hard.
On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"When assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields who are inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition it is good to praise others," he added.
That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.
Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.
He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.
After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM was not from the BJP.
Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which itself got 132 seats and was close to a majority of its own in the 288-member assembly, he added.
On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming CM and all leaders responded positively to it.
On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics anything can happen though I am not saying this should happen."
He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics along with the ability to take criticism.
In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry then give me something to eat and my anger will go away."
