A familiar theme was played out here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on day two of the ICC Champions Trophy, as a venue not more than half full witnessed India extend their ODI dominance over Bangladesh at major tournaments. India bowled out Bangladesh for 228 and chased their target inside 47 overs, with Shubman Gill batting through to the end with 101*, to underline their tag as pre-tournament favourites.
That total was tough to envision when Bangladesh slumped to 35/5, but a dropped catch by Hardik Pandya allowed Towhid Hridoy, on 23 at the time, to cash in and make his first century in ODIs. Still, India hardly broke a sweat in their chase.
Most importantly, Mohammed Shami dispelled doubts over his fitness and form by crossing the 200-wicket mark in ODIs en route to figures of 5/53, while Harshit Rana marked his first appearance at an ICC event with 3/31. And while just one spinner, Axar Patel, got himself into the W column, the fact that India’s trio of slow men conceded 123 runs from a combined 28 overs told a story.
If today’s pitch is anything to go by, India do indeed have a distinct upper hand with five spinners to call on in Dubai across their campaign, with the big match against Pakistan on February 23 suddenly looking even more ominous for the ‘host’ nation after their loss to New Zealand in Karachi. Hopefully, for the Champions Trophy’s sake, more fans turn up in three days to watch that marquee fixture.
The only blemish from India in the field were two dropped catches, the most glaring an easy catch put down by Rohit Sharma at first slip to deny Axar Patel a hat-trick in his opening over. Not too long afterwards, Pandya put down a straightforward catch at mid-off to reprieve Hridoy and deny Kuldeep Yadav a wicket. Hridoy went on to score his first ODI century in his 30th innings, facing 118 deliveries as he forged a record sixth-wicket alliance of 154 with Jaker Ali, who got his chance in the 11 today on account of an injury to Mahmudullah.
Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, after opting to bat, was one of three wickets to fall inside the first seven overs of the match. Shami and Rana – preferred over Arshdeep Singh – took a wicket each in their opening overs as Bangladesh slipped to 2/2 in 10 deliveries, and when Mehidy Hasan Miraz poked a ball from Shami to Gill at slip, the score read 26/3.
This was incisive pace bowling from Shami, still feeling his way back after 14 months away from the game, and Rana in his fourth ODI. Pace, some lift and sharp catching inside the circle.
Spin appeared nine overs into the match and Axar’s impact was immediate. To his second ball, the opener Tanzid Hasan got a faint edge to a ball from Axar that was well held by KL Rahul, and the new man in, Mushfiqur Rahim, suffered the same fate very next ball. Then came the drop by Rohit, an easy edge that on another day would have been gobbled up. Instead, India’s captain shelled the catch to leave Axar speechless.
With the veteran Mahmudullah out with a niggle, Bangladesh were missing a vital player who could have attempted to rebuild the innings. But still, Hridoy and Jaker put on a record 154 for the sixth wicket. India were frustrated by the pair as they found the gaps and ran hard for doubles, and as their confidence grew Hridoy and Jaker began playing some robust shots.
Jaker got to his fifty in 87 balls and reached 68 before he became Shami’s 200th wicket in ODIs, out mistiming a cross-batted slog that Virat Kohli held onto running in from long-on. Hridoy was sluggish at times but drove Rohit to frustration with his batting, with India’s captain at times demonstrative with his body language. Pandya’s drop allowed Hridoy to score a memorable maiden ODI hundred, which ended promptly after the landmark as he miscued a shuffled shot off Rana to signal the end of Bangladesh’s innings.
Rohit dominated an opening stand worth 69 in 9.5 overs by scoring 41 off 36 deliveries, which was good enough on the day. A few shots stood out, noticeably two on-the-go shots over the offside for boundaries. Gill had the Indian fans here in Dubai waving when he produced a trademark short-arm-jab past midwicket for four, before eliciting gasps with a purring on-drive for another boundary.
Once Rohit departed, Gill was forced to bat out the remainder of the chase. Kohli inexplicably went into a shell against the spinners, scoring 22 off 38 balls before he cut the leggie Rishad Hossain to point. Shreyas Iyer and Axar both departed trying to force the innings, and Rahul should have been out early too, except that Jaker dropped a catch at deep midwicket.
Rahul solidified his approach thereafter and assisted Gill across the finish line. Gill, comfortably India’s leading batsman in ODIs since 2020, got the job done with a polished century, which was raised off 124 deliveries to make it the slowest three-figure knock by an Indian since 2019. But such was the need of the hour.
