Asia Cup

1st Match: Bangladesh v India at Dhaka - Feb 24, 2016

India 166/6 (20/20 ov); Bangladesh 121/7 (20/20 ov)

India won by 45 runs

Rohit Sharma is a one-day nerd. He takes his time at the start, gets accustomed to conditions and cashes in only once he is set. India were sent in on a noticeably green pitch in Mirpur and the ball was nipping about. Bangladesh, armed with four fast bowlers, made the test as difficult as they could with tight lines around the off stump and moving the ball both ways. Shikhar Dhawan failed. Virat Kohli failed. Suresh Raina failed. Rohit could have failed too - he had 21 hard-earned runs when he was dropped by Shakib Al Hasan - but he did what good batsmen do and cashed in. Soon, even questions meant to flummox him - like Mustafizur Rahman - became easy. He mistimed one of Mustafizur's delivery for a six over square leg en route to a pristine 83 off 55 balls which led India past Bangladesh in their Asia Cup T20 opener.

Rohit's form is old news for India. His innings was clearly the difference between the two sides, but the most heartening outcome from the Mirpur match was Hardik Pandya passing his own exam with flying colours. He was promoted to No. 6, ahead of MS Dhoni who was declared fit to play even if he had to use a back brace while keeping wicket, and matched Rohit's strike rate. What was remarkable is that Rohit usually goes beserk after he has bedded into an innings, but Pandya was able to reel off boundaries - five in 11 balls - to thrust India's score from the possible to the improbable. They had been 97 for 4 with only 5.1 overs left and finished at 166 for 6.