NEW YORK: Rishabh Pant’s blistering half-century, followed by a combined bowling effort led India to thwart Bangladesh in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up match here on Saturday.
Opting to bat first, India registered a massive total of 182/5 in the allotted 20 overs, courtesy of Pant’s brisk half-century and Hardik Pandya’s late fireworks.
The former champions, however, had a contrasting start to their innings as they lost Sanju Samson (1) in the second over with just one run on the board.
Following the early blow, Pant joined skipper Rohit Sharma in the middle and knitted an anchoring partnership for the second wicket.
The duo added 58 runs for the second wicket before Sharma fell victim to Mahmudullah in the seventh over.
He scored 23 off 19 deliveries, laced up with two fours and a six.
Pant was then involved in yet another important partnership when he put together 44 runs with Suryakumar Yadav before getting retired out in the 12th over briefly after amassing his half-century.
He remained the top-scorer for India with a 32-ball 53, hitting four fours and as many boundaries.
Yadav then put together a brief partnership with Shivam Dube (14) before perishing in the 17th over.
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He smashed four boundaries on his way to an 18-ball 31.
Later, Hardik Pandya took the reigns of India’s batting charge and scored a quickfire 40 off just 23 deliveries with the help of two boundaries and four sixes.
For Bangladesh, Tanvir Islam, Mahmudullah, Shoriful Islam and Mahedi Hasan made one scalp each.
Chasing 183, Bangladesh could only manage 122/9 despite Mahmudullah’s gutsy knock.
Bangladesh had a disastrous start to the pursuit as they lost half of their side with just 41 runs on the board in 8.2 overs.
Following the slump, Mahmudullah joined Shakib Al Hasan and the duo launched recovery.
They batted for almost 10 overs before Mahmudullah opted to retire after scoring 40 off 28 deliveries.
Shakib fell victim to Jasprit Bumrah in the same over, bringing the total down to 116/7. He scored a scratchy 28 off 34 deliveries.
Arshdeep Singh and Shivam Dube bagged two wickets each while Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya struck out a batter apiece.
India’s comfortable victory over Bangladesh marked the end of the warm-up matches for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
The 20-team tournament commences today with the co-host United States of America (USA) taking on Canada in the curtain-raiser.
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