Shubman Gill scored a brilliant century in the Champions Trophy match against Bangladesh at the Dubai International Stadium. Shubman Gill‘s hundred helped India win the match by six wickets and also allowed the Indian vice-captain to break a massive Indian record set by former India opener Shikhar Dhawan.
Shubman Gill continued his rich form in ODI cricket and slammed a brilliant 101 not out to lead India to a six-wicket win over Bangladesh at the Dubai International Stadium. Chasing 229, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill gave India a brisk start before Rohit Sharma departed for 41 in 36 balls.
The pitch wasn’t the easiest to bat and once the ball got old, it started gripping and turning. Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel departed in quick succession to put India in a minor spot of bother but Gill stood firm and stitched an 87* run partnership with KL Rahul (41*) to take India home.
Shubman Gill has been in magnificent form in ODI cricket and scored a hundred and two fifties in the preceding ODI series against England. Gill’s brilliant innings helped him become the quickest to reach eight ODI hundreds for India. The record was previously held by Shikhar Dhawan who scored eight ODI centuries in 57 innings while Gill leapfrogged him with eight hundreds in 51 innings.
Shubman Gill deservingly won the Player of the Match award for his stunning hundred. The hundred by Gill came in 125 balls which was his slowest ODI century, however, he called it his one of the most satisfying one .
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : It’s reasonably cool – mid 20s. Very still, not a flag is moving. Dimensions – 82 metres down the ground, square boundaries – there’s a 12m difference (62m and 74m). It is very bare. It’s the first game of the tournament, so it’s a fresh pitch.
Because of the Women’s T20 World Cup and the ILT20, it can look like a tired square. But this one looks fine. It’s not used, mosaic little cracks. It might get a bit tired and a bit dry towards the end. Speaking to the groundsman, he says they’ve had no dew this year. Win the toss and bat reckons Mel Jones and Nasser Hussain in their pitch report.
Toss : Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss and chose to bat with 3 seamers and 2 spinners in the Playing XI. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma who also wanted to bowl first decided to go with 2 seamers and 3 spinners in the Playing XI.
Towhid Hridoy’s fighting maiden 101 and 156 runs partnership with Jaker Ali carries Bangladesh to 229 after Mohammed Shami’s 5-fer on ICC return.
India will still consider this a banana peel survived having misread the conditions and decided to field first should they have won the toss. On a slow pitch with no assistance for the quicks, they were gifted early wickets through some indiscriminate hitting. Bangladesh possibly felt the new ball was the best time to bat: they didn’t wait for a bad ball on offer and kept losing wickets. The first three fell to ambitious shots to plain good-length bowling with little seam.
Bangladesh found themselves on the backfoot right from the word go in this contest. Shami and Harshit Rana struck in the first two overs to leave them reeling at 2/2 and once Axar Patel got introduced inside the powerplay, things only became worse for the batting side.
The left-arm spinner got rid of Tanzim Hasan and the veteran Mushfiqur Rahim off successive deliveries and should have had a hat-trick as well when Jaker Ali edged one to first slip where Rohit Sharma dropped a regulation chance. That one-sided period of play saw Bangladesh lose half their side for just 35.
Bangladesh were 35 for 3 when Axar was introduced in the ninth over. Tanzid Hasan, the only batter who had looked comfortable, played him for the turn and paid the ultimate price with an outside edge. Mushfiqur Rahim, arguably batting too late at No. 6 especially in the absence of the injured Mahmudullah, played the original line, and was done in by the rare one that turned. Axar slowed down the hat-trick ball even more, Jaker Ali obliged with an edge, which Rohit spilled.
Soon Hardik Pandya dropped Hridoy on 23 in Kuldeep Yadav’s first over. Scoring runs was still a task on the sluggish surface, more than 10 overs went without a boundary, but also India went the middle overs without a single wicket for the first time since the 2023 World Cup final. Jaker did provide an opportunity on 24 but this time KL Rahul missed the stumping off Ravindra Jadeja.
In desperate need of a partnership, the batting side found two saviours in the form of Jaker and Hridoy. With plenty of time left, the two batters were content batting out overs to ensure Bangladesh didn’t fold easily. Boundaries were hard to come by in those middle overs against India’s spin trio and with no risks being taken, Rohit even attempted to break the partnership by re-introducing pace. That ploy didn’t work as the duo slowly grew in confidence and even brought up their respective half-centuries.
Eventually, Hridoy slowly started opening up by fetching a few boundaries, including sixes off successive overs. With that, the run rate went past 4 for the first time in their innings in the 40th over. Shami finally broke the 154-run partnership that started to appear threatening by getting Jaker.
Rishad Hossain’s mini cameo then dragged the total beyond 200 but Bangladesh didn’t get the desired finish they would have liked with Hridoy losing steam as a result of cramps. While he managed to reach the three-figure mark, Shami wrapped up proceedings to complete his five-fer.
The duo found their touch deeper into the innings, but Hridoy was hampered by cramps all over his body. Shami returned to the challenging task of bowling with a short leg-side boundary but used the slower ball wide outside off to not just deny them boundaries but also collect three more wickets. A cameo from Rishad Hossain and Hridoy’s fight despite crippling cramps took Bangladesh to a fighting total.
Shubman Gill’s blistering century powers India to an comfortable 6 wicket win over Bangladesh
Defending just 228, Bangladesh were put under the pump very early as Rohit and Gill went after the bowling attack in the PowerPlay. Shubman Gill kickstarted with a boundary very early in his innings but it was Rohit who did the bulk of the scoring in the opening exchanges. A couple of boundaries against Mustafizur Rahman helped him go past 11000 runs in the format.
He took a liking to the left-arm seamer as he smashed him for five more boundaries off his next two overs to race to 37. Tanzim Hasan was then welcomed into the attack with a six over deep midwicket by Gill as India raced to 65/0 in the first nine overs.
Rohit continued his high-intent starts of recent times, and Shubman Gill matched him shot for shot as India raced away from the three Bangladesh quicks. Just before the field was about to spread, Rohit fell for 41 off 36 in a bid to make one last use of the field restrictions. Immediately, scoring became laborious. Even the master accumulator Virat Kohli struggled to manipulate the ball into gaps before falling to a leg spinner again, this one with the letters of Rashid scrambled to Rishad.
Rohit’s charge was then halted by Taskin Ahmed with the Indian skipper mistiming one in the final over of the fielding restrictions. The scoring rate dipped significantly though in the next ten overs once Bangladesh introduced spin.
On a surface that had started showing enough signs of slowing down, both Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli were watchful with no real scoreboard pressure. But that watchful phase resulted in a couple of wickets that kept India on their toes. First, it was Kohli fell once more to a leg spinner before Shreyas Iyer miscued one much to Mustafizur’s relief on a night where he conceded a lot of runs.
Shreyas Iyer played the conditions for a while, but once he got a couple and a boundary off Mustafizur Rahman, he overreached and lobbed a slower ball to mid-off to be dismissed for 15 off 17. Promoted for the dual tasking of breaking the sequence of right-hand batters and also have an eye on the net run rate, Axar skied a slog-sweep, failing to read the Rishad topspinner.
Getting a promotion yet again especially with spin dominating proceedings, Axar didn’t make an impact as he failed to make clean contact with a googly and ended up losing his wicket. With India still needing 85 at that stage, one more wicket would have really put the game in the balance. However, Rahul continued in the same vein as Shubman Gill did at the other end and showcased a lot of patience by just biding some time and nudging the ball around.
The last three wickets had fallen for 75 runs and had taken 20.2 overs. You would have thought the sight of KL Rahul would have brought calm to the proceedings, but he tried an uncharacteristic hoick early on only to be dropped by Jaker, whom he had himself reprieved earlier in the day. That proved to be the last opportunity for Bangladesh even as India overcame the ghosts of the failed chases in Sri Lanka last year.
The man to thank was Shubman Gill, who anchored the chase and made sure he was there at the end. He was 26 off 23 when Rohit got out, but as the conditions changed he tightened his game and took only selective risks. His next boundary came only when the skiddy fast bowler Tanzim Hasan came back. In the 32nd over. By that time had brought up his slowest half-century.
Shubman Gill was content with singles off the spinners and even Mustafizur, who bowls a wicked slower ball to make use of these conditions. He scored just 30 off the 52 balls following Rohit’s dismissal, then went into middle gears before finishing it off in glory. He needed 12 out of the 19 runs to bring up a hundred, and hit a six and a four off Tanzim to get to the mark off 125 balls and take his customary bow. Rahul took India home with a six off Tanzim with 21 balls to spare.
Bangladesh didn’t help their cause either as Jaker returned India a favour by dropping Rahul at a crucial stage with the chasing side still needing 63 at that point. Rahul made it count as a release shot came against Rishad where he hammered him over long on for a six. The boundaries then started coming regularly as Shubman Gill entered the 90s with a stunning pick up shot that cleared the deep midwicket fence.
Just before Rahul put the finishing touches on the win with another big six, Shubman Gill managed to complete his slowest ODI hundred which perhaps is his most significant one until now given the stage.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Najmul Hossain Shanto the losing Bangladesh skipper said : Losing five wickets in the powerplay cost us the game. I think so. Hridoy and Jaker batted brilliantly but we still made mistakes on the field. Dropped catches and a few run-outs missed, the result could have been different. Impressive batting from Hridoy and Jaker against their spinners. I hope they will continue doing the same.
I don’t think so (if he thought the team needed an extra spinner in the XI). If we got wickets with the new ball it could have been different. We have played Pakistan there recently and I am sure boys will adapt to conditions in Rawalpindi.
Rohit Sharma the winning Indian skipper said : Before you come and play you got to be confident. As the game goes on there are different emotions that come through. But there is a lot of experience in that dressing room. Gill and KL played really well. Very hard to say that (on pitch playing slow) after just one game.
You play the conditions and try and think about what you do. We assessed the conditions well as a team. You are bound to be under pressure in a tournament like Champions Trophy. Very happy for him (Shami), long time waiting. We know what he brings to us. We need guys like him to stand up when we need. Gill, we know the class that he has, Shouldn’t surprise anyone. It was good to see him bat till the end. May take him (Axar) for dinner tomorrow (smiles).
No, that was an easy catch, I should have taken that catch with the standards I have set for myself. But I do know these things are bound to happen. Credit to Hridoy and Jaker, they stitched a nice partnership. (Asked if he expects the pitch to play similar in the next game as well) Not sure, but it will be pretty much similar I guess. I am not the curator here to tell you how exactly it will play but looks like it with the way the games have been played here.
Shubman Gill Player of the Match for his 101 runs said : Definitely one of my most satisfying innings that I have played and my first century in ICC events. Very satisfying and very happy with the way I performed. When me and Rohit bhai went out there, we thought cutting the ball wasn’t easy because the balls which were outside the off-stump weren’t coming onto the bat that nicely.
So I thought of using my feet to even the fast bowlers and tried to go over the circle. When the spinners came on, me and Virat bhai were talking in the middle that it’s not easy to score singles off the front foot, so we’ll try to score singles off the back foot. And it’s not easy to hit down the ground, so we just keep rotating the strike.
At one point, there was a bit of pressure on us. The message was sent from outside that I have to try to bat till the end and that’s what I tried to do. (On his two sixes) The first one gave me a lot of confidence and the second one helped me come closer to my hundred, so both were very satisfying.
Shubman Gill dug deep for his slowest ODI hundred and India’s slowest in the last six years to see India through a tricky chase of 229 that must have brought back memories of their 3-0 series defeat to Sri Lanka last on similarly slow tracks. Despite a quick 69-run opening stand, India were tested by a target that was kept by Mohammed Shami, who took his sixth ODI five-for and became the quickest man to 200 ODI wickets in terms of balls bowled to get there.
Both sides will rue missed opportunities in their Champions Trophy opener. Bangladesh won a crucial toss on a tired pitch with no dew expected to make chasing easier, but they got off to such a poor start that they needed three dropped catches and a superlative fighting hundred from Towhid Hridoy to stay in the contest. India had Bangladesh down at 35 for 5,
Axar Patel was on a hat-trick, and Rohit Sharma dropped a sitter followed by two lives for the record-breaking sixth-wicket stand. It allowed Bangladesh to get to a target that denied India a net-run-rate boost, which can prove crucial if they happen to lose one of their three matches.
A five-wicket haul from Mohammed Shami followed by a composed unbeaten century from Shubman Gill helped India get off to a winning start in the 2025 Champions Trophy. Bangladesh put up a fight at one stage with the bat to recover from a precarious position on the back of an excellent maiden ODI ton from Towhid Hridoy but still didn’t have enough runs on the board to trouble their opponents. While they were largely untroubled, India recovered from a slight stutter in the middle overs before Shubman Gill and KL Rahul got the job done in the end.
A game where both didn’t have it easy. Bangladesh put on a great recovery from 35/5. And with the ball they dented India with wickets despite conceding a quick start. This could have gone either way had Jaker held KL’s catch with 63 runs still needed at that stage. But that was the momentum changer as India got quick runs after that to shut the door on Bangladesh. Rohit was aggressive again in powerplay. Shubman took his time and then upped his pace.
Rishad bowled a good spell to trouble India by picking Virat and Axar. Fizz deceived Shreyas with a slower ball but KL and Shubman batted sensibly barring that chance KL gave. Grinding wins are always satisfying and India will feel confident going into the game against Pakistan. They have got a good understanding of how the pitch is playing here and got great inputs for the games in future.
There was no dew today. The curator did say there was no dew in the last few days leading up this game. Now if that trend continues, will teams think more about just winning the toss and opting to field. Batting did get tougher in the second half of the second innings and you never know how this game could have swung had Bangladesh played Nasum Ahmed.
Now does India’s call to load spinners in their squad make sense. The early answer seems to be yes but it’s too early to say because this is just the first game of the tournament here and we need more evidence of similar behaviour from the pitch. India will wait to play Pakistan here on Sunday but South Africa and Afghanistan will begin their campaign in Karachi tomorrow.