Ton-up Gill, 5-star Shami star in six-wicket victory over Bangladesh
Dubai: Shubman Gill was more artisan than artist en route to his eighth ODI hundred after Mohammed Shami’s satisfying five-wicket haul, propelling India to a workmanlike six-wicket win over Bangladesh in their Champions Trophy opener here on Thursday.
Gill’s unbeaten innings (101, 129b, 9×4, 2×6) had a mirror image in Bangladesh’s innings through Towhid Hridoy’s 100 (118b) that lifted them to 228 from the depths of 35 for five after batting by choice.
India’s chase began with promise as Rohit Sharma (41 off 36) and Gill stitched together a brisk 69-run stand in under 10 overs. Rohit’s aggression set the tone before he miscued a heave off Taskin Ahmed, leaving India at 69/1.
Virat Kohli’s start was uncharacteristically slow—taking 10 balls to get off the mark. Though he found some rhythm, his innings ended at 22 when an uppish cut off leg-spinner Rishad Hossain found a fielder. With Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer also departing in quick succession, India found themselves at 144/4, facing a minor wobble.
However, Gill remained unfazed. His innings, built on patience rather than flamboyance, held India together.
Earlier, a cramping Hridoy, who made a courageous maiden ODI hundred and an equally gutsy Ali (68, 114b, 4×4) added 154 for a doughty sixth-wicket stand to give some respectability to Bangladesh total.
Shami also eased a lot of worries over the absence of injured pace ace Jasprit Bumrah with a five for 53 effort, and during the spell he also became the fastest Indian bowler to reach 200 ODI wickets. Harshit Rana (3/31) gave good backing to his senior partner.
