Nidahas Trophy 2018, 2nd T20: Shikhar Dhawan shines as India outclass depleted Bangladesh - See Pics

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Colombo, March 9: India came back to winning ways after beating a depleted Bangladesh side comprehensively by 6 wickets riding on Shikhar Dhawan's imperious form in the second T20I match of the Nidahas Trophy 2018 here on Thursday (March 8).

Match Scorecard

Chasing a below-par score of 140, India made merry with Dhawan's 55 off 43 took them home in mere 18.4 overs on a slowish Premadasa track. The Delhi left-hander had found his mojo back at the start of the limited-overs leg in South Africa after having a poor outing in the Test series.

His sequence of the score in the last five T20 reads: 55, 90, 47, 24, 72. Dhawan has been keeping his wickets intact from his end and recovered the team after Rohit Sharma departed early. Skipper Rohit once again failed to play a big knock as he was dismissed for 17.

Along with the seasoned Suresh Raina (28 off 27 balls), Dhawan added 68 runs for the third wicket as the paltry target was knocked off with minimum fuss despite. Young Rishabh Pant, who was promoted up in the order too couldn't make much of a difference as he was dismissed for 7.

Dhawan slammed his second consecutive half-century off 35 balls when he chased a wide delivery from left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam.

In all, Dhawan hit five fours and two sixes. When he was finally gone off Taskin's delivery, India needed 17 runs, which Manish Pandey (27 no off 19 balls) and Dinesh Karthik (2 no) got without breaking much sweat.

Here are images from the 2nd T20I:

Unadkat bagged 3 wickets

Jaydev Unadkat, second right, celebrates the dismissal of Bangladeshi batsman Soumya Sarkar with his team mates during their Twenty20 cricket match in Nidahas triangular series.

Unadkat (3/38) had most number of wickets but he was inconsistent throughout his four-over spell with a mixture of good deliveries followed by half trackers.

The inexperienced bowling line-up, led by Unadkat, gave a much better account of themselves, using the conditions well, much to the delight of their skipper Rohit.

Vijay Shankar impresses in his second game

On a slow track, all-rounder Vijay Shankar's (2/32 in 4 overs) wicket-to-wicket stuff proved to be handy even though he had at least three catches dropped off his bowling.

Shankar, playing his second international game, impressed every one by hitting the right length time and again.

The lack of pace in his bowling, was managed well by managing to hit the good length spot with Suresh Raina dropping a dolly to give Liton a reprieve.

However in his next over, Shankar got his first international wicket when Mushfiqur edged one to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps. He was adjudged the man of the match for his bowling efforts.

Rohit Sharma departs cheaply again

Skipper Rohit Sharma, who scored a duck in the previous game, added 17 runs into his account before getting dismissed.

The skipper was cleaned up by Mustafizur Rahman and the visitors lost their opener cheaply in the run chase. But Rohit's exit didn't affect India much as they easily overhauled the paltry target set by Bangladesh.

Rohit didn't have memorable outing on South Africa tour as well and his lean patch has followed the cricketer here as well.

Rishabh Pant disappoints

Talented young batsman Rishabh Pant was promoted at No.3 against Bangladesh, but the left-hander failed to make opportunity count as he was dismissed for 7.

Pant tried to drag the ball going away him and was played on. The Delhi batsman, who was promoted over Suresh Raina, must be unhappy with his effort in the match as he could have easily made it count.

He's been perceived as the heir to MS Dhoni and the next big thing in Indian Cricket, but the youngster has so far failed to live up to the reputation. However, he hasn't been given too much of matches to play as well.

Pandey-Karthik take India home

Manish Pandey, left, and teammate Dinesh Karthik celebrate their team's six wickets victory.

With Dhawan in fine touch, Raina played freely at the other end, taking the singles and hitting the odd boundary. He played his customary slog sweep off Mehedy Hasan Miraz over deep mid-wicket. When Dhawan was finally gone off Taskin's delivery, India needed 17 runs, which Manish Pandey (27 no off 19 balls) and Dinesh Karthik (2 no) got without breaking much sweat.

Earlier, India's young bowling unit got its bearings back with a disciplined effort to restrict Bangladesh to a modest 139/8 exorcising the ghosts of a nightmarish effort against hosts Sri Lanka in the opener.

The inexperienced line-up gave a much better account of themselves, using the conditions well, much to the delight of their skipper Rohit. The testimony to a better performance was as many as 55 dot balls (9.1 overs) being bowled by the 'Men In Blue'.

On a slow track, all-rounder Vijay Shankar's (2/32 in 4 overs) wicket-to-wicket stuff proved to be handy even though he had at least three catches dropped off his bowling.

Jaydev Unadkat (3/38) had the most number of wickets but he was inconsistent throughout his four-over spell with a mixture of good deliveries followed by half-trackers. Skipper Rohit once again started with off-spinner MS Washington Sundar (0/23 in 4 overs) and the normally dangerous Tamim Iqbal (15 off 16) found it difficult to get going in the Powerplay overs. Sundar bowled as many as 13 dot balls in those first six overs.

His partner Soumya Sarkar (14 off 12) flicked Unadkat over long-leg for a six but the Saurashtra left-armer had the last laugh when he was caught at short fine-leg trying to whip a rising delivery.

Tamim's misery was ended by a well-disguised short-ball from Shardul Thakur (1/25 in 4 overs), which climbed on him sharply. His mistimed pull-shot was taken easily by Unadkat at short fine-leg.

Liton Das (34 off 30) and former skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (18) added 31 runs for the third wicket. Rahim, in fact, started with a switch-hit sweep and a conventional slog sweep off Yuzvendra Chahal (1/19 in 4 overs), who didn't bowl too many boundary balls after that.

Shankar, playing his second international game, impressed everyone by hitting the right length time and again. The lack of pace in his bowling was managed well by managing to hit the good length spot.

Overall, it was a convincing win for the inexperienced Indian side as they put up a clinical effort with bat and ball. However, it was one of those off days when India's fielding was substandard.