Nasir Hossain put on a brilliant all-round performance as Bangladesh ‘A’ team beat their Indian counterparts by 65 runs in their second one-day match to level the three-match series in Bangalore on Friday.
Nasir struck an unbeaten 102 off 96 balls to help Bangladesh post 252-8 in 50 overs and then grabbed 5-36 to dismiss the hosts for 187 in 42.2 overs.Paceman Rubel Hossain also claimed 4-33 as India ‘A’ collapsed from 2-119 to lose their last eight wickets for 68 runs to hand the visitors a big win in the end.
Nasir also scored 52 runs in the first match that Bangladesh ‘A’ team lost by 96 runs.
He carried his confidence into the match to help Bangladesh ‘A’ recover from yet another poor start after the Indians sent them in at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Liton Das and Arafat Sunny provided him ample support for the sixth and seventh wicket after the hosts reduced Bangladesh ‘A’ to 5-82.
Soumya Sarkar made 24 off 30 balls while Anamul Haque added 34 off 53 before both of them wasted their start to leave the second string Bangladeshi side in danger of settling with yet another poor score.
But Nasir, who hit 12 fours and a six for his only third List A century, put 70 runs for the sixth wicket with Liton (45) and added a valuable 50 runs for the seventh wicket with Arafat Sunny (17) to give the visitors a competitive score.
India ‘A’ collapsed while chasing when Nasir brought the vital breakthrough that ended an 86-run stand between Unmukt Chand and Manish Pandey that looked to be threatening.
Just when Unmukt and Pandey began to lay the foundation for a potential match-winning stand, Bangladesh ‘A’ were rewarded by Nasir’s golden arm as his tweaker sent Unmukt packing for 56 and gave his side hopes of a comeback.
Rubel managed to jolt India ‘A’s chase as he set Pandey’s middle stump tumbling with a quick, full delivery that whizzed through the big bat pad gap.
Four wickets fell inside six overs as Rubel and Nasir took turns to dismantle the Indian line-up and effectively derail what looked like a straightforward chase.
While the batsmen did not have an answer for Rubel’s pace, their attempt to go after Nasir at the other end proved counter-productive.
The series decider will be played on Sunday.
-With New Age input
