NEW DELHI: Bangladesh's lower-order batter Mehidy Hasan, for the second time in a row, took team India by surprise as his maiden one-day international ton lifted Bangladesh to 271 for 7 in the second match of the series in Mirpur.
The 25-year-old smashed a scintillating unbeaten century off just 83 balls, delighting a packed Shere Bangla National Stadium crowd, coming in at no.8 as he took the India bowlers to the cleaners.
After stealing victory from the jaws of defeat in the 3-match series opener, Hasan once again was the X-factor for Bangladesh.
The decision to bat first initially backfired heavily for Litton Das and co. as Bangladesh found themselves reeling at 69 for six in the in the 19 over, courtesy a superb bowling show from pacers Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik and spinner Washington Sundar. The trio shared 7 wickets between as the hosts found themselves in tatters before the half-way mark.
But then Hasan along with Mahmudullah (77 off 96) stitched a mammoth 148-run partnership for the 7th wicket, crushing the Indian dreams of bundling Bangladesh out for a lowly score.
The duo led a remarkable recovery, putting up the highest ever seventh-wicket stand against India.
Miraz saved his best for the 50th over when he smashed Shardul Thakur for couple of sixes, including a sweetly timed pick up shot, before reaching three figure-mark in the final ball of the innings.
The visitors had struggled to take the decisive last wicket in the series-opener and ran out of ideas on Wednesday as well after more than half of the Bangladesh line-up was sent back to the dressing room by the 19th over.
Miraz got a lot of his runs square of the wicket as his picked his gaps, especially against the spinners. He ended up with eight boundaries and four sixes.
Mahmudullah too grew in confidence as his innings progressed. It took a brilliant one-handed catch from KL Rahul to dismiss him and end a memorable stand.
After Bangladesh opted to bat, Siraj (2/73) troubled the batters with his incoming deliveries, Umran (2/58) used his express pace to good effect while offie Sundar (3/37) had them in discomfort with the extra bounce.
Siraj got his revenge in the same over he was hit for back-to-back boundaries by Anamul Haque (11 off 9). The Indian pacer set up Haque with a couple of outswingers before bringing one back in to trap him in front of the stumps.
Siraj's next wicket came in the 10th over when the dangerous Litton Das (7 off 23) had no clue about his in-swinger from a good length.
Malik, coming into the side in place of injured Kuldeep Sen, tested the seasoned Shakib Al Hasan (8 off 20) with a barrage of short balls. It was an uncomfortable stay in the middle for Shakib who eventually fell to a spinner as he mistimed a slog sweep off Sundar.
Like Shakib, Najmul Hossan Shanto too was expecting some chin music but Malik bowled one at 151kmph on length and the southpaw was late on the ball to see his off-stump cartwheeling.
Mehidy and Mahumudullah got together in 20th over and change the course of the innings.
India captain Rohit Sharma suffered a nasty blow to his thumb early in the innings.
Standing at second slip, Rohit was left with a bloodied left-hand when he dropped Haque off Siraj in the fourth ball of the second over. He did come to ground after that and KL Rahul led the side in his absence.
(With inputs from PTI)
