Shubman Gill scored a century to chase down a below-par target of 229 and guided India to a comfortable six-wicket win over Bangladesh on Thursday in Dubai.
With this win, India made a flying start to their ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Shubman remained unbeaten for 101. Before his ton, Mohammad Shami bagged five wickets to set the tone for India.
Bangladesh leg-spinner Rishad Hossain took two wickets for 38 runs, but it was not enough for them to challenge India’s formidable batting line.
India chased down the target inside 47 overs.
Earlier, Towhid Hridoy hit his maiden ODI century. Riding on his century, Bangladesh posted 228 in 49.4 overs despite suffering an early batting collapse which saw them reeling at 35 for five wickets.
Towhid reached his ton off 114 balls. He hit six fours and two sixes.
Towards the end of his innings, Towhid visibly struggled with a hamstring injury in his leg. He relied primarily on singles to reach his century.
Bangladesh opted to bat first, winning the toss, but failed to build a good start. Three of their top-five batters failed to reach a double-digit total, with two of them suffering a duck each.
They lost the first wicket in the first over, when Soumya Sarkar fell prey to Mohammad Shami for a duck. The left-handed batter tried to drive to the mid-off but only managed an inside edge to the Indian wicketkeeper.
In the next over, Bangladesh’s captain Najmul Hossain Shanto fell for another duck. He faced only two balls. He failed to drive Harsit Rana’s outswinging delivery.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mushfiqur Rahim also failed to produce good batting. Miraz scored 5, and Mushfiqur suffered a first-ball duck. Opener Tanzid Hasan Tamim fell for 25.
After losing five for 35 in the ninth over of the innings, Towhid and Jaker steadied the innings for Bangladesh, forging a formidable stand of 154 runs in the sixth wicket, facing 206 deliveries.
At the end of the match, Bangladesh’s captain Najmul credited Towhid and Jaker, but said the failure of the earlier batters cost them the match.
“I think the first powerplay, the way we batted, the game cost us at that point,” Najmul said. “Very hard for the lower order to recover. The way Hridoy and Jaker batted was brilliant.”
Towhid was dismissed at 100 in the last over. While he was the best batter for Bangladesh, Jaker Ali was right behind him scoring 68 off 114.
For India, right-arm pacer Mohammad Shami bagged five wickets for 53 runs. It was the sixth five-for of Shami in ODIs, the first against Bangladesh. Harshit Rana took three wickets, while Axar Patel scalped two.
Bangladesh will play New Zealand and Pakistan in their next two matches on February 24, and 27.
Source: AP
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