Bangladesh vs India Champions Trophy: Shubman Gill ton, Mohammed Shami five-wicket haul leads India to opening win

A five-for from Mohammed Shami and an unbeaten century from Shubman Gill have ensured Champions Trophy favourites India made relatively comfortable work of winning their opening clash in Dubai by six wickets.

A win for Rohit Sharma’s side was probably never really in doubt on Thursday once Bangladesh, having chosen to bat, slumped to 5-35 at the Dubai International Stadium.

But the Tigers, battling to make a respectable 228 all out on the back of a hobbling Towhid Hridoy’s splendid 100 and Jaker Ali’s 68 in a defiant sixth-wicket stand of 154, then made the Indians work rather harder than they’d have liked for the win.

Shami had taken 5-53 and captain Sharma could hardly have been more embarrassed when he dropped Jaker Ali at slip, a simple missed chance that cost Axar Patel a first international hat-trick after he’d already dismissed Tanzid Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim.

“May take him for a dinner tomorrow,” a sheepish Sharma said afterwards with a smile.

“That was an easy catch, I should have taken that catch.”

It proved not too calamitous as Gill then led India’s chase with an assured eighth one-day international century and was left unbeaten on 101 off 129 balls as India got the job done on 4-231 with 21 balls to spare.

Captain Sharma kicked things off with 41, going past the 11,000 ODI-runs landmark en route, in a brisk 69-run opening stand with Gill to get India well ahead of the required run rate, before Virat Kohli (22 off 38), Shreyas Iyer and Patel all came and went.

KL Rahul provided a steady run to the finish line alongside Gill with an unbeaten 41 after he had been dropped on nine.

Gill’s century came off 125 balls, India’s slowest in any one-day international in six years, but it was just the job to ensure a routine first win of the tournament.

“We have been in that kind of situation many a time,” Sharma said, making the chase sound workaday.

“There’s a lot of experience in that dressing room to handle that. KL and Gill at the end were quite composed.

“Gill, we know the class he has. What he showed us, it shouldn’t surprise anyone. What was good to see was he was there ‘til the end.”

Bangladesh had their own hero in the shape of Hridoy, who was suffering from cramps and ended up practically batting on one leg near the end of a century that featured six fours and two sixes.

As for his missed hat-trick, Patel was philosophical. “I was going to celebrate but then I turned around since it didn’t happen. These things happen, it’s part of the game.”

India will next on Sunday face defending champions Pakistan, the tournament hosts who’ll go to Dubai for the match because India refused to play on their neighbours’ home turf on political and security grounds.

With agencies