India 231 for 4 (Gill 101*, Rahul 41*, Rishad 2-38) beat Bangladesh 228 (Hridoy 100, Jaker 68, Shami 5-53) by six wickets
In order to lead India through a challenging chase of 229 that must have reminded them of their 3-0 series loss to Sri Lanka last on equally slow surfaces, Shubman Gill went to great lengths for his slowest ODI century and India’s slowest in the previous six years. Mohammed Shami, who got his sixth ODI five-for and became the fastest player to get 200 ODI wickets in terms of balls bowled to reach the target, put India to the test despite a swift opening stand of 69 runs.
In their Champions Trophy start, both teams will lament lost chances. Towhid Hridoy’s outstanding battling century and three dropped catches were necessary to keep Bangladesh in the game after they won a critical toss on a tired surface without any dew, which should have made chasing easier. Axar Patel was on a hat-trick, Rohit Sharma lost a sitter and two lives for the record-breaking sixth-wicket stand, and India had Bangladesh down at 35 for 5. In the event that India loses one of their three games, it might be vital since it allowed Bangladesh to reach a target that denied them a net-run-rate advantage.
India will continue to take this into account. After misjudging the circumstances and choosing to field first if they had won the toss, a banana peel managed to survive. Due to some careless hitting, they were given early wickets on a sluggish pitch with no help for the quicks. Bangladesh may have believed that the new ball was the ideal moment to bat because they continued to lose wickets without waiting for a bad ball to be offered. Ambitious strokes to simple, good-length bowling with little seam caused the first three to fall.
Axar was brought on in the ninth over with Bangladesh at 35 for 3. The lone hitter who had appeared at ease, Tanzid Hasan, played him for the turn and ultimately lost due to an outside edge. Mushfiqur Rahim played the original line and was dismissed by the lone player who turned, probably batting too late at No. 6—especially without the injured Mahmudullah. Jaker Ali responded to Axar’s further slowing down of the hat-trick ball with an edge, which Rohit spilled.
Soon after, in Kuldeep Yadav’s opening over, Hardik Pandya dismissed Hridoy at 23. On the slow pitch, scoring runs was still difficult; nearly ten overs went without a boundary, and for the first time since the 2023 World Cup final, India passed the middle overs without taking a wicket. On 24, Jaker did present a chance, but KL Rahul failed to stump Ravindra Jadeja this time.
Deeper into the innings, the two clicked, although Hridoy was hindered by cramps throughout his body. With a short leg-side boundary, Shami resumed the difficult chore of bowling, but he also took three more wickets by using the slower ball wide outside off to deny them boundaries. Bangladesh reached a fighting total thanks to a cameo from Rishad Hossain and Hridoy’s battle despite excruciating cramping.
As India quickly overtook the three Bangladesh quicks, Rohit maintained his usual high-intent beginnings, and Gill matched him shot by shot. In an attempt to make one final advantage of the field limits, Rohit fell for 41 off 36 just before the field was ready to spread. Scoring became a chore right away. Even Virat Kohli, the great accumulator, had trouble moving the ball into gaps before he was sent out by a legspinner once more, this time with the letters Rashid jumbled to Rishad.
After Mustafizur Rahman gave him a couple and a boundary, Shreyas Iyer overreached and threw a slower ball to mid-off, ultimately being bowled for 15 off 17. Axar, who was promoted to break right-hand hitters’ sequences and keep an eye on the net run rate, failed to read the Rishad topspinner and skied a slog-sweep.
After taking 20.2 overs, the final three wickets had fallen for 75 runs. You would think that KL Rahul’s presence would have calmed things down, but he attempted an unusual hoick early on and was dropped by Jaker, who had been reprieved earlier in the day. Even though India defeated the ghosts of last year’s unsuccessful chases in Sri Lanka, that turned out to be Bangladesh’s final chance.
The guy to credit was Gill, who ensured his presence at the finish of the chase and anchored it. As the situation changed, he tightened his game and only took calculated chances, but when Rohit was out, he was 26 off 23. Only until the slick fast bowler Tanzim Hasan returned did he hit his third boundary. during the 32nd over. He had reached his slowest half-century by then.
Gill was happy to take singles from Mustafizur, who bowls a vicious slower ball to take advantage of these conditions, as well as from the spinners. After Rohit was dismissed, he only managed 30 runs off of 52 balls before settling into middle gear and completing it in style. He smashed a six and a four off Tanzim to reach the milestone off 125 balls and take his traditional bow after needing 12 of the 19 runs to reach a hundred. With 21 balls remaining, Rahul hit Tanzim for a six to send India home.
