Rohit Sharma's courageous fifty in vain as India slump to consecutive series defeats in Bangladesh after Mehidy century

In what will go down as one of the most courageous efforts of all time, captain Rohit Sharma batted with an injured thumb and scored a blistering half-century off just 27 balls. But his fighting innings was not enough as Bangladesh held their nerves and beat India by five runs.

In what will go down as one of the most courageous efforts of all time, captain Rohit Sharma batted with an injured thumb and scored a blistering half-century off just 27 balls. But his fighting innings was not enough as Bangladesh held their nerves and beat India by five runs in a last-ball thriller to clinch the series with an unassailable 2-0 lead. Rohit, who left the field in the first innings after copping a blow to his left thumb, did not return to the field, until India found themselves starting down the barrel.

Rohit Sharma nearly pulled off a win for India but it was Bangladesh who took the series in the end (Getty Images)

Chasing 272, India were reduced to 207/7 when a wounded Rohit, the team’s last hope walked out to bat. With 61 needed off 40 balls, Rohit struggled initially put switched gears effortlessly. The India captain struck five sixes and three boundaries to bring the equation down to 20 needed off the last over. He raised India's hopes after hitting two boundaries off the first three balls, but a dot ball later, the equation was simple: two sixes needed off two balls. Rohit tonked a length ball into the stands to silence the crowd but the same public erupted in joy after Mustafizur Rahman's yorker produced the dot ball that mattered for Bangladesh.

The outcome means tha India have now lost back-to-back ODI series in Bangladesh, following a 1-2 defeat in 2015 under MS Dhoni. After losing the first ODI two days ago by one wicket, India's performance with the bat is once again likely to be questioned. The experiment to open with Virat Kohli failed as he got out cheaply for five before Mustafizur sent Shikhar Dhawan back for another low score. Washington Sundar, promoted ahead of KL Rahul could only muster 11 off 19 balls before lobbing a simple catch to Litton Das and things worsened for India when Rahul was out plumb LBW.

At 65/4, another batting collapse loomed large before Shreyas Iyer and Washington Sundar came to the rescue and added a wonderful 107 run partnership – the highest fifth wicket stand by India against Bangladesh in an ODIs. Both scored half-centuries but India slipped once they departed in quick succession. Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar consumed deliveries and their struggles took the asking rate to more than 8 runs an over required, and although Rohit tried his best nearly pulling a miraculous escape for India, it wasn't to be.

Mehidy Hasan, for his maiden century was named Player of the Match and Series. Taking it forward from his unbeaten fifty in the first ODI, Mehidy along with Mahmudullah revived Bangladesh innings, which at one point, was reeling at 69/6. The pace duo of Umran Malik and Mohammed Siraj, along with Washington raced through Bangladesh's top order before a staggering 148-run stand between the two middle order batters dug them out of a hole and propelled the total to a challenging 271/7.