India cruised to a seven-wicket win in the first round of the Asia Cup Super Fours against Bangladesh.
India dismantled the Bangladesh batting line-up to bowl them out for 173, with Ravi Jadeja, flown to the UAE tournament as a replacement for the injured Axar Patel and playing his first ODI since July last year, the pick of the bowlers.
His 4/29 from 10 overs included the key wickets of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim in a successful comeback, before stand-in captain Rohit Sharma saw the team home with an unbeaten 83.
Read: Jadeja makes ODI return after injuries to Hardik, Axar and Shardul
The hitman shines again as India canter to a 7 wicket win! ??
Rohit Sharma puts on a captains knock of 83* as Bangladesh’s 173 is turned over with ease, India reaching the target with 13.4 overs remaining! #INDvBAN scorecard ➡️ https://t.co/xZjItFqcMO#AsiaCup2018 pic.twitter.com/MJzFt8iD7m
— ICC (@ICC) September 21, 2018
Jadeja was introduced in the 10th over after Rohit had won the toss. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/32) and Jasprit Bumrah (3/37) had removed openers Liton Das and Nazmul Hossain Shanto. Shakib took the left-arm spinner for back-to-back boundaries before having him caught behind square sweeping.
He then had Mushfiqur caught in similar fashion from a reverse-sweep to leave Bangladesh in dire straits at 65/5 at the end of the 18th over.
Photos: India vs Bangladesh | Asia Cup 2018 – Match 7
Jadeja’s fellow spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav maintained the pressure as Mahmudullah set about rebuilding the innings alongside Mosaddek Hossain. Though they dug in, neither could press on and in the end it was only the late hitting of Mehedi Hasan (42 off 50 with two fours and two sixes) that got Bangladesh up to 173, still 27 short of the 200 mark.
The chase was straight-forward. Rohit had said at the toss he expected the pitch to play better under lights and there certainly seemed few demons in it as he took advantage of the lack of scoreboard pressure to compile a measured 83 from 104 balls with five fours and three sixes.
Shikhar Dhawan had made a 47-ball 40 with four fours and a six before missing an attempted sweep off Shakib and falling lbw. At 61/1, Bangladesh perhaps retained an outisde sniff of a comeback but Rohit was in no mood to let them back into the game. Though Ambati Rayudu was out for 13 shortly after Rohit’s fifty, caught behind off Rubel Hossain, there was little left to play for for Mashrafe Mortaza’s side. MS Dhoni walked out at No.4 and hit a typically calm 33. He fell to Mortaza with India just four shy of the victory target. Dinesh Karthik was not out for 1 as India moved to a comfortable win inside 37 overs.
Read: India cruise to victory as Kumar and Jadhav shine
The victory maintains India’s unbeaten run in the tournament, while for Bangladesh it is a successive defeat following their heavy loss to Afghanistan.
Both teams return to action on Sunday, India against Pakistan and Bangladesh v Afghanistan.
