India took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh, with a dominant win over the visitors at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Put in to bat first, the Indians scored 221/9 in their 20 overs before restricting Bangladesh to 135/9 to register an 86-run win.
Central to the triumph was the performance of 21-year-old all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who scored an impressive 74 off 34 with the bat – an innings that included four boundaries and seven sixes – and later picked up two wickets for 23 runs in four overs.
Reddy had come into bat at No 4 in the third over with India struggling at 25/2 after the dismissals of openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav was also dismissed cheaply with India on 41/3 after 5.3 overs. Thereon however, Reddy formed a solid 108-run partnership with Rinku Singh to steer India towards a strong total.
Singh also managed to score a half-century, putting up 53 runs off 29 deliveries with five boundaries and three sixes.
In the second innings, each of the seven Indian bowlers that were used came up with at least one wicket.
Openers Parvez Hossain Emon and Litton Das were out for cheap early into the Bangladesh innings.
The wickets kept tumbling with only Mahmudullah managing to put up any resistance to the Indian bowlers with his 39-ball 41. Reddy however, dismissed the veteran batter in the last over of the match, with Riyan Parag taking the catch at long on.
The two teams will next meet on October 12 for the last match of the series at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
