Indian captain Rohit Sharma gave credit to Mohammed Shami and Shubman Gill after a six-wicket win against Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai in the ongoing Champions Trophy on Thursday.
Shami, who is making a comeback after a long hiatus, bagged a five-wicket haul as he bowled at his absolute best after Najmul Hossain Shanto decided to bat first.
The fast bowler accounted for Soumya Sarkar and Mehidy Hasan with the new ball and then got rid of Jaker Ali, Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Taskin Ahmed towards the end. Shami returned with impressive figures of 5-53 in his quota of 10 overs and also became the fastest bowler to take 200 wickets in terms of fewest balls (5126).
On the other hand, Shubman Gill scored a match-winning knock of 101 runs off just 129 balls with the help of nine fours and two sixes. Gill continued his purple patch as he batted at the top of his game and got India over the line in the run-chase of 229. Ergo, Gill was awarded Player of the Match for his fine knock.
Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “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.”
He added, “You are bound to be under pressure in a tournament like the 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.”
Rohit also admitted he should have taken Jaker Ali’s catch when the right-hander was yet to get off the mark. It was a hat-trick chance for Axar Patel but Rohit could not hang on to a simple catch at first slip.
India will next take on arch-rivals Pakistan at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Sunday.
