Shubman Gill mauled an unbeaten century – his second successive in ODIs – to steer India’s chase of 229 and inspire a six-wicket win in their Group A Champions Trophy fixture against India in Dubai.
The Indian opener continued his rich vein of form, amassing 101 runs off 129 deliveries. Having risen to the top of the ICC Men’s Batting Rankings ahead of Thursday’s fixture, Gill combined alongside Rohit Sharma to take the attack to Bangladesh bowlers from the get-go.
Having won the toss and opted to bat first, Bangladesh set a total of 229, powered by Tawhid Hridoy’s maiden ODI ton.
The Indian skipper looked in fine form with the bat as he blazed seven boundaries during his knock of 41. However, Rohit was undone by a short delivery from Taskin Ahmed at the end of the powerplay to break the deadlock.
Bangladesh leg-spinner Rishad Hossain then struck twice to remove Virat Kohli and Axar Patel to spark a fightback from his side after India got off to a quickfire start.
Hossain provided Bangladesh with their second breakthrough, getting the better of Virat Kohli, who was unable to slice the ball past the fielder at gully.
Having lost four wickets, Gill then stitched a crucial partnership of 87 runs to see the game through with KL Rahul (41*).
Bowling first after Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first, seasoned pacer Mohammed Shami marked an impressive return on the big stage as he nabbed a five-wicket haul to – two in his opening burst to put India on the offensive in the first innings.
Wrapping up with bowling figures of 5/53 from his 10 overs quota, Shami crossed the 200 ODI wickets milestone, and surpassed Zaheer Khan to become India’s leading wicket-taker at ICC ODI tournaments to headline the first innings.
The new-ball specialist was on the money from the get-go as he removed Soumya Sarkar and Mehidy Hasan Miraz in his openin, inducing outside edges caught behind by the wicketkeeper KL Rahul and Shubman Gill in the slips respectively.
Bowling from the other end, Harshit Rana – featuring in his first ICC tournament for India, removed Bangladesh skipper Nazmul Hossain Shanto to make it two wickets for India in as many overs.
Axar Patel then, joined the party, snapping the wickets off Tanzid Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim off successive deliveries, with KL Rahul grabbing catches behind the stumps.
The left-arm orthodox almost rounded up a hat-trick with Jaker Ali edging one behind but Indian skipper Rohit Sharma was unable to latch onto the ball behind the stumps.
With Indian bowlers tightening the screws, Jaker Ali combined alongside Towhid Hridoy to add 154 runs for the sixth wicket.
The partnership was the record highest for the sixth wicket in ICC Champions Trophy history and against India in the ODI format.
While Shami removed Jaker Ali for 68, Tawhid kept the scoreboard ticking from the other end, with Rishad Hossain also adding valuable runs lower down the order as Bangladesh marked a comeback to cross past the 200-run mark.
Shami was once again in the mix as he caught Tawhid Hridoy off Harshit Rana’s delivery to close the innings for India.
Playing XI:
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Jaker Ali, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman
