Twitter Reaction: India kick off their Asia Cup campaign with an easy win

India started off their Asia Cup campaign with a bang after defeating hosts Bangladesh by 45 runs in the tournament opener. Bangladesh could never get in the groove while chasing a challenging total of 167 on a tricky green wicket and eventually could manage 121/7 after the end of 20 overs.

Mashrafe bin Mortaza won the toss and sent India to bat first. The green pitch reminded Indian fans of the Pune T20I where they were humiliated by Sri Lankan pacer couple of weeks ago. And, Bangladesh did give a scare straightaway after they sent Shikhar Dhawan packing in the second over. Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina also fell for cheap scores. This raised a concern in the Indian camp and they were under pressure. India could manage only  52 in the first ten overs.

However, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya then rescued India in style. The pair got 61 runs for the fifth wicket in only 4.3 overs. This stand changed the course of India’s innings. The Mumbai batsman cracked 83 runs off just 55 balls, building his innings to perfection with a well-composed approach. He batted amidst the mini collapse, negotiating the early advantage which the Bangladeshi bowlers were exploiting.

“Hitman’ was complemented well by young Hardik Pandya, who smashed a quickfire 18-ball 31, including a huge six off home team’s ‘wonder boy’ Mustafizur Rahman, and four boundaries at the Shere Bangla National Stadium.

In a wicket where 140 was been considered as par score, Bangladesh was asked to chase 167 to win.  The pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Ashish Nehra did not take long to strike. Soumya Sarkar and debutant Mohammad Mithun fell quickly. As the match progressed the Bangladeshis found it really difficult to score runs and the required run rate kept mounting to an uncomfortable level. Sabbir Rahman offered some resistance with his 32 balls 44 run knock but this effort was insufficient in any circumstance.