Samson's epic, Suryakumar's innovation hand Bangladesh a shellacking
Hyderabad, October 13:
India 297 for 6 (Samson 111, Suryakumar 75, Pandya 47, Tanzim 3-66) beat Bangladesh 164 for 7 (Hridoy 63, Litton 42, Bishnoi 3-30, Mayank 2-32) by 133 runs
India handed out one final shellacking to Bangladesh on their final night of the tour, but this was one for the ages. The second-highest T20I score, three short of 300; Sanju Samson's silken 40-ball century, Suryakumar Yadav's improvisation and power; and then the finish by the powerful lower middle order.
There was no respite for Bangladesh: 22 sixes (joint-highest for a Test-playing side) and 25 fours combined for the most runs in boundaries in a T20 innings, a record 18 overs went for ten runs or more, one of them went for five sixes, and three bowlers conceded 50 or more. Two of the 26 dot balls turned out to be no-balls, a catch went down, and a run-out was missed.
Samson, Suryakumar stun Bangladesh
When Tanzim Hasan got Abhishek Sharma out with a bouncer first ball, little would have Bangladesh known that would be their last moment of joy for the evening. Samson had already messed around with Taskin Ahmed's lines by backing away and hitting four successive fours in the second over. The new batter, Suryakumar, took only one ball before hitting his first six.
Samson wasn't to be left behind. He backed away and got the better of Mustafizur Rahman too with a six and a four. Suryakumar then capped off the powerplay with shots that should be considered audacious but are the norm for him, managing to pull balls well behind square when most batters would be happy going just behind. The last of those was a pull over midwicket, taking India to their joint-highest powerplay score, 82.
Suryakumar was to unfurl a carved six over backward point that he had no right sending there, but the most memorable shots came from Samson. Some of his eight sixes were audacious but they were not muscled. His control percentage for a strike-rate of 236.17 was a high 81.