Mahendra Singh Dhoni hammered an impressive century under pressure to power India to a six-wicket victory over Bangladesh in a triangular one-day series match on Thursday.
India were struggling at 51-3 before achieving a stiff 297-run target with 15 balls to spare in the day-night match, thanks to a 152-run stand for the fourth wicket between skipper Dhoni (101 not out) and Virat Kohli (91).
The Indian captain hit nine fours in his 107-ball knock for his seventh one-day hundred.
Sri Lanka lead the league table with two wins from as many matches, followed by India (1/2) and Bangladesh (0/2). Each side will play four league games before the top two advance to the final.
Bangladesh earlier impressed with their batting, with openers Imrul Kayes (70) and Tamim Iqbal (60), and Mohammad Mahmudullah (60 not out) helping their team to post the highest one-day total against India.
“We knew we were never behind the run-rate and we just needed to keep wickets in hand,” Dhoni said. “But if we want to be No. 1 [in one-day cricket], we need to do better with the ball and in the field.”
The hosts boosted their hopes of recording only their third one-day win over India when they dismissed Virender Sehwag (13), Gautam Gambhir (18) and Yuvraj Singh (one) in the opening nine overs.
But Kohli and Dhoni applied themselves remarkably well to deny Bangladesh success for nearly 27 overs, relying more on singles and twos to consolidate their team’s position.
Kohli, batting with a runner in the later part of his innings because of cramps, missed his second one-day hundred by nine runs when skipper Shakib al Hasan held a return catch. He hit seven fours in his 102-ball knock.
Man-of-the-match Dhoni completed the victory with a 94-run stand for the unfinished fifth wicket with Suresh Raina, who hit one six and five fours in his 43-ball 51 not out.
“We are getting runs consistently and that’s a plus for us. When we got early wickets, we thought we had a chance but they got a good partnership. All credit to them,” Bangladesh captain al Hasan said .
Bangladesh made a strong start after electing to bat, with Iqbal doing the bulk of scoring in an 80-run stand with Kayes who contributed only 16.
Mahmudullah then smashed eight fours in his 45-ball knock late in the innings as the hosts plundered 88 in the last 10 overs.
Iqbal dominated the Indian attack with bold stroke-play, reaching his 12th half-century off just 33 balls with one six and eight fours.
India had a chance to break the partnership when Kayes mistimed a pull off paceman Ashish Nehra, but Harbhajan Singh dropped an easy catch at mid-wicket. The batsman was then on three.
Iqbal fell playing strokes, pulling fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth to Gambhir at mid-wicket after hitting one six and 10 fours.
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