Seamer Deepak Chahar recorded the best-ever bowling figures in a T20 international with 6/7 as India beat Bangladesh by 30 runs in Nagpur on Monday (NZ time).
Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul struck brisk half-centuries to help India post 174/5 in their 20 overs after Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah won the toss and chose to bowl. Iyer smashed 62 off just 33 balls while Rahul made 52 from 35.
In reply, Bangladesh lost Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar in successive deliveries to Chahar early to get off to a false start in their chase and were finally all out for 144 to go down 2-1 in the series.
Opener Mohammad Naim kept Bangladesh in the hunt with 81 off 48 balls but his dismissal in the 16th over snuffed out the touring side's chances.
Naim added 98 for the third wicket with Mohammad Mithun, who made 27, before the latter became Chahar's third wicket of the evening.
Chahar then dismissed Shafiul Islam on the last delivery of his third over and returned in his final one to send back Mustafizur Rahman and Aminul Islam to complete his hat-trick and finish with figures of 6/7 off 3.2 overs.
The previous T20 bowling record was 6-8, taken by Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis in 2012.
India all-rounder Shivam Dube picked up 3/40, including the prized scalps of Naim and experienced Mushfiqur Rahim.
India's' stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma, leading the side in the absence of rested Virat Kohli, fell for just two while his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan also did not last long and was out for 19.
Bangladesh medium paceman Shafiul accounted for both the experienced openers and could have also dismissed Iyer for nought if Aminul had managed to hold on to a simple catch.
India have struggled to identify their number four batsman in limited-overs cricket in the last 12 months, but Iyer showed he could be the solution to their middle-order woes.
He hit five sixes and three fours and stitched together a 59-run stand with Rahul.
Iyer's stroke-filled knock ended when he holed out to Sarkar, who had minutes earlier dismissed out-of-form Rishabh Pant for six in the same over.
The two sides will next play a two-test series, with the first starting at Indore.
Reuters
