Stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma finally came to the party for India, when he smashed a 61-ball 89 to take India to 176/3 on a tricky pitch, in the last league stage match of the Nidahas Twenty20 tri-series at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.
Before this, Sharma had scored only 28 runs three matches. Though he started cautiously, he made it up towards the end of the innings, hitting a total of five sixes and five fours.
He was ably supported by Suresh Raina (47 off 30 balls), who hit five fours and two sixes. The two shared a partnership of 102 runs for the second wicket, after Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed for 35.
Rubel Hossain was the most successful bowler for Bangladesh, picking up 2/27 in his four overs. In fact, he had a hand in Sharma's dismissal as well, running him out in the final over of the innings.
Earlier, Bangladesh won the toss and asked India to bat first. They replaced pacer Taskin Ahmed with another pacer Abu Hider. India brought in pacer Mohammad Siraj instead of Jaydev Unadkat.
After clinching back-to-back six-wicket wins against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka respectively in their last two games, India have a healthy net run rate of +0.21.
The Men in Blue, who began the T20I tri-series in the absence of rested skipper Virat Kohli with a five-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka, will aim to continue their winning momentum heading into the fourth match as they bid to seal the final spot.
If India fail to win today, the Rohit Sharma-led side's future in the series would then rely on the fixture between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on Friday.
Bangladesh chased down a mammoth 215 runs against Sri Lanka in their last match at the same venue on Saturday.
Bangladesh will once again depend on Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim who guided their side to a big win against Sri Lanka.
(With ANI inputs)