IND vs BAN, 3rd T20I: Rahul-Iyer Heroics Power India To 174/5 Vs Bangladesh At Nagpur

What hurt Bangladesh more then some brutal pounding from the Indian batsmen were some dropped chances (catches) - especially that of Shreyas Iyer

T20-savvy cricketers KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer attained fifties in the series decider to propel team India to 174/5 against Bangladesh in the third and final T20I at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. What hurt Bangladesh more then some brutal pounding from the Indian batsmen were some dropped chances (catches) - especially that of Shreyas Iyer. Put to bat first, in-form Rohit Sharma took the strike against Al Amin. Fast bowler Shafiul drew the first blood for Bangladesh by dismissing Rohit for just 2-runs. Not only Shafiul bagged his maiden wicket for the series, the paceman also bowled first maiden over of the series. Post Sharma's departure, Dhawan and KL Rahul started building a strong partnership. B'desh got the perfect start but Shikhar Dhawan showed some resistance by playing some good shots. As Dhawan (19 off 16 balls) looked to increase his dominance, he mistimed a shot to give Shafiul another wicket and put the visitors in strong position. Team India lost both in-form openers in the powerlay with the scoreboard reading 41/2 after 6 overs. Halfway through the innings, Shreyas Iyer-KL Rahul build a solid foundation to attain fifty+ partnership and propel team India to 71/2. Just after bringing his 6th T20I half-ton off just 33-balls, KL Rahul was dismissed by Al-Amin for a well-made 52 that helped team India to regain a solid position. Next to the crease came Rishabh Pant with team India at 95/3 after 12.2 overs. On the other end, Shreyas Iyer managed to set Nagpur stadium on fire by smashing three back to back sixes off Afif Hossain's 15th over to notch up his maiden T20I fifty. With Iyer showing no mercy to B'desh bowlers, the strike-rate kept getting higher & higher. India's "X-factor" Pant again made a mockery of team management's hopes as he was bowled by Soymya for 6 off 9 balls. India were four wickets down with 139-runs in 16 overs and in the very next over 'on-fire' Iyer's fantastic innings came to an end after he was caught out for 62 off 33-balls. His innings consisted of 3 fours and 5 huge sixes. Manish Pandey (22) and youngster Shivam Dube (9) too pounded the visitors in the last few overs to help team India attain a dominating total of  174/5 in the final T20I.