India started their campaign with a bang against Bangladesh & won the game by 6 wickets while chasing 229 runs. Rohit Sharma‘s unit were ruthless as well as scratchy in their opening game. Let’s see how India outfoxed Bangladesh and won the match convincingly.
(1) Mohammed Shami’s lethal 5 wicket haul
The veteran speedster wasn’t at his best during the recently concluded England ODI series. Mohammed Shami had mentioned that recovering from injury and standing on his own feet like a toddler. Shami was given the new ball & immediately went around the wicket to Soumya Sarkar & enticed him to play a cover drive shot but gave a catch to wicket-keeper KL Rahul & was dismissed on 0.
Despite the pitch at Dubai not being grassy, Shami was hitting immaculate line & lengths & made sure that ample room isn’t given to the batters. Shami used the crease smartly and generated swing quite easily & got the better of Mehidy Hasan Miraz who got surprised by a back of length delivery and wanted to play a shot at third man but gave a catch to Shubman Gill at first slip. At that moment, Bangladesh was in deep trouble with the score being 26-3 in 6.2 overs.
After a tremendous & commendable fightback by Towhid Hridoy & Jaker Ali, Bangladesh believed that they can get 250 runs on the board. The spinners all of a sudden were ineffective despite the surface being dry. In the 43rd over, Shami bowled an off-cutter and foxed Jaker Ali who wanted to clear long on but Virat Kohli took a running catch and ended the threatening partnership of Jaker & Towhid.
Shami got rid off the tail-enders & took a 5 wicket haul for 53 runs. Shami reached a massive milestone of 200 ODI wickets in his 104th game. Number of balls Mohammed Shami took to take 200 ODI wickets, the fewest for any bowler, beating Mitchell Starc’s record of 5240 balls. In terms of matches played, Shami is joint-second fastest with Saqlain Mushtaq on 104 ODIs, while Starc took his 200th wicket in his 102nd ODI.
(2) Shubman Gill’s marvellous match winning ton
India were chasing a moderate score of 229 runs. The wicket was slightly a two paced one. Rohit Sharma during the start of the run chase was troubled by Mustafizur Rahman. Shubman Gill unleashed attack on the opposition. In the 9th over, Shubman Gill played a jaw-dropping pull shot to Tanzim Hasan Sakib and skipper Rohit Sharma at the non-striker was spellbound given he hit the ball in the second tier.
Shubman Gill saw both the dynamic star cricketers Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli dismissed but he didn’t panic. Shubman Gill looked like a man on mission as he kept the score-board ticking & was hitting the gaps regularly. At one stage India was in a spot of bother at 144-4 in 30.1 overs needing another 85 runs to win.
Shubman Gill who is given the crown of ‘Prince’ showed that he has the knack of playing the waiting game. In ODI cricket, we often forget the importance of winning small phases of 5 overs which Shubman Gill did effortlessly. Shubman Gill steered India to a 6 wicket win along with KL Rahul and his shot selection was quite worthy. Shubman played a match winning knock of 101 runs in 129 balls and struck 9 fours and 2 sixes.
Road ahead for India
India still have a long rally ahead to go in this ICC CT 2025. The next opponent of India is Pakistan who had a torrid performance against New Zealand in the opener of ICC CT 2025. Rohit Sharma’s brigade should not make the mistake of taking Pakistan lightly who have the knack of being unpredictable given it is their do or die game as a defeat would most likely end the journey of the hosts in tourney.
It was quite astonishing to see the wicket at Dubai in Bangladesh game. Despite being a dry track, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav & Ravindra Jadeja weren’t able to wrap up the innings as at one point, Bangladesh’s score was 35-5. India undoubtedly are red hot favorites given a long batting line up, quality fast bowlers, the Men in Blue are a team to beat.