Shubman Gill celebrates his century.
Credit: PTI Photo
Dubai: The shortest route from Point A to Point B, we are taught in school, is a straight line. India opted to take the scenic option to traverse that journey, and while it threw up a fair amount of artificial excitement, it made no difference to the final outcome – victory by six wickets with 21 deliveries to spare.
Having pinned Bangladesh against the ropes at 35 for five in the ninth over at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday, India allowed their neighbours to claw their way back into the Champions Trophy contest between the sides through Towhid Hridoy, who brought up his maiden international hundred, and Jaker Ali.
Their Bangladesh record sixth-wicket alliance of 154 boosted the tally to 228, which wasn’t as miniscule as it might seem, given that the pitch slowed down dramatically as the game progressed.
Mohammed Shami was India’s bowling hero with five for 53, becoming the fastest to 200 ODI wickets in terms of number of balls taken to reach the landmark.
Bangladesh could and should have been 35 for six and Axar Patel would have had a hat-trick to his name had Rohit Sharma not put down the simplest of chances at slip off the first ball Jaker faced.
The skipper felt he owed his team a few and began India’s chase in frenetic fashion. Though he wasn’t always in full control, he took a shine to Mustafizur Rahman, smacking him for all seven of his fours while racing to a 36-ball 41.
It was just the kind of start India were looking for, and it set the platform for Shubman Gill to clamber on to and show why he is ranked the No. 1 ODI batter in the world.
Coming off two half-centuries and a hundred in his last three hits against England, the right-hander began with pleasing drives over the infield but then dialled down his aggression once the ball aged and got softer, taking it upon himself to be the fulcrum around whom the chase revolved.
Virat Kohli, subdued, Shreyas Iyer and Axar were undone in the middle overs with leg-spinner Rishad Hossain spinning a tight web, cutting off scoring options and exerting growing pressure.
The early middle order succumbed to the pressure, but Gill was helped in the cause by KL Rahul. Watchful to start with and put down at deep mid-wicket by Jaker when nine, Rahul was otherwise in total command, allowing Gill to do his bit without having to worry about having to score runs for both batters.
India got home in a rush towards the end in a flurry of fours and sixes, Rahul celebrating Gill’s eighth hundred with a gigantic winning six off Tanzim Hasan.
The other Hasan, openerd Tanzid, watched open-mouthed in the afternoon when Shami dismissed Soumya Sarkar in the first over and Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the seventh. Between these strikes, Harshit Rana packed off skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto, who must have further questioned his own wisdom of opting to bat when Axar dismissed Tanzid and Mushfiqur Rahim off successive deliveries in his first over.
That’s when came the Rohit lifeline to Jaker. Rohit’s frustration at the mistake that prevented left-arm spinner Axar from getting into the list of bowlers to take a hat-trick for India manifested itself in furious slaps of the ground, but that wasn’t India’s only lapse in the field.
Hridoy was dropped by Hardik Pandya on 23, Jaker survived a stumping chance when he was 24. If India didn’t pay a heavier price, it was because Bangladesh didn’t have anything either side of that substantial mid-innings partnership, thanks in the main to the impressive Shami.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh: 228 all out in 48.4 overs (Towhid Hridoy 100, Jaker Ali 68; Mohammed Shami 5/53), Harshit Rana 3/31)
India: 231/4 in 46.3 overs (Shubman Gill 101 not out, Rohit 41, KL Rahul 41 not out; Rishad Hossain 2/38).