What is it about hopes hanging on a thread and then somehow, somehow, managing to claw your way up and back to safety. India did that, and then some, and then some more after that, in one of the biggest escape acts you will ever see in any form of cricket to stay alive in the ICC World T20 2016.
Staring at a comfortable defeat at the hands of a revitalised Bangladesh at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Hardik Pandya bowled an unforgettable three balls to take India home from absolutely nowhere. Needing 11 runs in the final over, it all looked done and dusted as Bangladesh scored nine runs in the first three balls -- Mushfiqur Rahim hitting consecutive boundaries, with the diminutive right-hander even celebrating after striking the second one, knowing the match was won.
Or so he though, at least. Next ball, Mushfiqur went for the glamour shot to try and finish off the innings in style, and holed out in the deep. The ball after that, Mahmudullah, so calm and composed, usually, was caught near the boundary line as well, to leave Bangladesh needing two runs from one ball.
Shuvagata Hom was the man who needed to get bat on ball, but he missed a wide delivery from Pandya, and Dhoni ran like Usain Bolt to clip off the bails before Mustafizur Rahman reached his crease to give India a stunning victory by, yup, one run; a single, crazy, crazy run.
This was a match when the batsmen finally needed to come to the party, but, on an albeit tacky wicket, the willow-wielders failed to put the runs on the board, after being asked to bat first, managing just 146/7 in their 20 overs, failing to gain the impetus needed at the top, middle or the end.
Bangladesh might have lost their first two matches of the World T20, but facing India on Indian soil for the first time in 18 years, they did everything to ensure they would not fluff their lines, silencing the vast majority of the capacity crowd for the bulk of the chase, before falling short in the most dramatic of circumstances.
With India suffering that massive defeat to New Zealand in the first match of the tournament, their hopes of making it to the semifinals would have been next to none, had they fallen to Bangladesh.
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan threatened to cut loose at the top of the match, and find their usual T20 form early in the innings, but that proved to be a false dawn, with their quick wickets leading to lull in the proceedings which even the great Virat Kohli failed to break.
At his IPL home ground, plenty was expected from Kohli, but the right-hander, the matchwinner for India in the previous game against Pakistan, just could not find his timing. Kohli ended up playing a rather uncharacteristic 24-ball 24, with Suresh Raina muscling, forcing his way to an unconvincing 30 (23b, 1x4, 2x6).
With a final kick needed, the onus was on Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya, and while the latter hit a few to and beyond the boundary ropes, before falling to a brilliant catch ion the deep from Soumya Sarkar, the former two failed to impress, as India limped to 146.
The chase was always going to be about Bangladesh keeping enough wickets in hand and keeping that required run rate well below the ten-run mark. While Mohammad Mithun fell early in the innings, to R Ashwin (4-0-20-2), Tamim Iqbal, back in the lineup after a bout of food poisoning saw him miss the loss to Australia, and Sabbir Rahman set the platform, and in quick time too to set Bangladesh on their way.
Bangladesh always stayed in touch with the required run rate, and they were helped as well by India's iffy fielding, with Tamim (35, 32b, 5x4) and Shakib Al Hasan (22, 15b, 2x6) dropped by Jasprit Bumrah and R Ashwin respectively.
That allowed Bangladesh a few bonus runs, and when you are defending a lowish total, it just will not do. For all of Bangladesh's control in the chase, though, the match went right down to the wire, and when it did, India held their nerves better.
