India 314 (Pant 93, Iyer 87, Taijul 4-74, Shakib 4-79) and 145 for 7 (Ashwin 42*, Axar 34, Mehidy 5-63) beat Bangladesh 227 (Mominul 84, Umesh 4-25, Ashwin 4-71) and 231 (Litton 73, Zakir 51, Axar 3-68) by seven wickets
India strengthened their second spot on the WTC table with the 2-0 series win and have a four-Test series coming up at home against Australia, of which they can afford to lose only one game to not lose out on the final spot.
India were in deep trouble in the first hour at 74 for 7, still 71 adrift from the target, when Iyer and Ashwin came together. Iyer used his straight bat to play out the spinners patiently and Ashwin used a low stance for the low bounce especially against Mehidy as the Bangladesh spinners stuck to a stump-to-stump line that had fetched them three wickets in the morning.
Mehidy even created a chance when Ashwin was on 1 and India on 80, when Ashwin gloved the ball to short leg where Mominul Haque put down a straightforward chance. Just like Bangladesh made India pay for the dropped chances on Saturday, Ashwin cashed in on the life he got and picked up regular boundaries once he moved into double-digits. He collected two in an over off Khaled Ahmed and finished things off in a 16-run over off Mehidy which started with a first-ball six over midwicket and ended with back-to-back fours, taking Ashwin to an unbeaten 42 off 62 while Iyer was on 29 at the other end.
Full report to follow…
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo