It was less than 15 minutes for calendars to flip over to Saturday in Dubai, when Bangladesh's leadership group was in a fix. Soumya Sarkar - of the final over in Nidahas Trophy heartburn fame - was considered to defend six runs, before Mashrafe Mortaza summoned off-break bowler Mahmadullah instead, who came with glowing last-over reputation from the Bangladesh Premier League. A hamstrung Kedar Jadhav was in the middle of a complete deja vu from a few months ago when he was in the yellows of CSK, trying to get his team over the line in their IPL opener.
The bowl-shaped colosseum in Dubai had hit fever pitch, and was buzzing from the stands. There were moments for both sets of fans to leave midway and enjoy a better Friday night elsewhere, but most stayed back just in case.
In anticipation of an early glory hit, and the fact that Kuldeep Yadav was on strike, Mortaza sent his men to hug the boundary like at deep backward square leg, deep square leg, short fine leg, long on and long off. Two tossed up full balls outside off was offered on a platter as bait, but neither batsmen bit into it. Kuldeep drove straight, and Jadhav clipped it behind square to knock off two runs from the target. 'Six singles to win it' was too logical a victory route with a No. 9 batsman in the middle. All the pressure was inevitably going to prick the caution bubble.
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