Once the niceties of the two most beautiful national anthems by the same poet were done on the faraway shores of Antigua, it was on India to take charge of their Super8s group and all but seal a semis spot. From openers Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to cavaliers Rishabh Pant and Shivam Dube, everybody contributed. Jasprit Bumrah (2/13), too, was his usual miserly self as Bangladesh huffed and puffed to a 50-run loss.
But as India all but shut out Bangladesh's hopes in this T20 World Cup , it was Hardik Pandya who put all his troubles to the side to stand up and deliver. Hardik has been slowly gathering momentum through the World Cup after a horrendous IPL, and on Saturday morning at the hot and sticky Vivian Richard Stadium, the allrounder came to the party. His 27-ball 50 was the cornerstone of India's 196-5, a score big enough to notch up the easy win against a team that doesn't have the firepower in its batting.
Coming into bowl within the Powerplay, Hardik used the slower ball to remove the dangerous opener Liton Das caught at deep square leg, that halted Bangladesh's improbable chase. Earlier, Hardik had come in to bat with the score on 108-4 in the 12th over, the entire top-order back in the hut. One more wicket at that stage could have made things slightly tricky for India, but Hardik ensured that nothing on those lines would happen.
Clearing his front leg, Hardik played the shots that made himself such a menace over the years as Shivam Dube (34 off 24 balls) came up wi.
