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India rattle Bangladesh top-order
Half-centuries from captain Shakib Al Hasan and M Mahmudullah rescued Bangladesh and helped them amass 247-6 against India in the inconsequential sixth and final One-Day International of the Tri-Nation Tournament in Dhaka, on Monday.
India got the early breakthrough when Imrul Kayes (9) hit one straight to Virat Kohli to point, off the bowling of Sudeep Tyagi, in the third over of the Bangladeshi innings.
He was followed by Mohammad Ashraful in the very next over.
The other opener, Tamim Iqbal scored a sedate 17 from 31 deliveries before playing a rash shot against Ashish Nehra only to be caught by Tyagi at mid-off.
Captain courageous delivers
Later, Yuvraj came up with a smart piece of fielding off his own bowling to run out Raqibul Hasan for 28 at the non-striker's end. Yuvraj then proved his utility with the ball when he claimed the wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim, caught by Suresh Raina at covers, for seven.
Wickets were falling around him, but skipper Shakib Al Hasan went on with his job and played with positivity.
He was caught behind off Ashish Nehra after a splendid innings of 85 from 97 deliveries, laced with five boundaries and a six.
The left-hander added 106 runs in 128 deliveries for the sixth wicket with Mahmudullah as the duo rescued the team after they were reeling at 95 for five at one stage.
M Mahmudullah joins Shakib in rescue act
Mahmudullah finished unbeaten on a cracking innings of 64 from 80 deliveries. He played the perfect foil to skipper Shakib and gave the Bangladeshi innings some sort of respectability.
Next man in, Mushfiqur Rahim fell cheaply for 7.
At the end of the innings, Mahmudullah found a decent partner in Naeem Islam, who was not out on 22 from 14 deliveries, to help Bangladesh post 247 for six in their 50 overs.
Indian openers off to a good start
Indian openers Gautam Gambhir (41) and Dinesh Karthik (34) gave India another brisk start.
The duo hit boundaries at regular intervals. Karthik, especially was aggressive, hitting the first ball of the second powerplay -- Abdur Razzak was the bowler.
Gambhir too was no far behind. He hit Shafiul Isalm for three fours on the trot in his next over.
The pair added 64-run before Karthik was caught behind by the wicketkeeper Rahim off Sahiful. His brief knock consisted of three boundaries and one huge six.
Bangladesh strike quick blows
With India going steady at a good pace, lost two quick wickets and suddenly were under pressure.
India lost Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh (13) in quick succession as the visitors were reduced to 133-3 from a strong 64-1.
Left-handed Gambhir danced down the track to hoist spinner Naeem Islam only to be beaten by the flight of the delivery that disturbed the stumps. Gambhir hit five fours in his 46-ball innings.
Yuvraj Singh then came in but he failed to fend off a Naeem delivery that straightened after pitching to be out leg-before-wicket.
Kohli steers India to victory
However Kohli and skipper MS Dhoni (32) played a sensible innings as they shared a 68-run stand for the fourth wicket from 75 balls.
Kohli carried on from where he left against Sri Lanka, mixing caution with aggression as he picked gaps and ran hard for the ones and twos and scoring occasional boundaries to race to his fifty in just 47 balls with the help of five fours.
Dhoni, who scored a hundred in their earlier match against the same opponents, played in the same fashion as his junior partner and as India scored at a brisk pace.
Kohli hit the winning runs, with a boundary, which also meant that the Delhi batsman completed his second century of his ODI career