India chased down a target of 229, scoring 231 for 4, with Shubman Gill leading the way with his slowest ODI century of 101. Bangladesh set the target thanks to Towhid Hridoy’s fighting knock of 100 and Jaker’s 68, but struggled early, collapsing to 35 for 5 before recovering. Mohammed Shami’s exceptional bowling, with figures of 5-53, made him the fastest to 200 ODI wickets in balls bowled. Despite early setbacks, India capitalized on missed opportunities from Bangladesh, with KL Rahul scoring 41 to secure the victory by six wickets with 21 balls remaining, overcoming previous chasing struggles.
India 231 for 4 (Gill 101*, Rahul 41*, Rishad 2-38) defeated Bangladesh 228 (Hridoy 100, Jaker 68, Shami 5-53) by six wickets
India will view this as a narrow escape, having misjudged the conditions and opted to field first upon winning the toss. On a sluggish pitch offering no assistance to the fast bowlers, they capitalized on early wickets due to some reckless batting from Bangladesh. The visitors likely felt that the new ball was the best time to bat; they did not wait for loose balls and continued to lose wickets. The first three fell to ambitious shots against basic good-length bowling with little seam movement.
Bangladesh found themselves at 35 for 3 when Axar was brought into the attack in the ninth over. Tanzid Hasan, the only batter who appeared comfortable, fell victim to a turning ball and edged it. Mushfiqur Rahim, batting too low at No. 6 in the absence of the injured Mahmudullah, was also deceived by a rare delivery that turned sharply. Axar’s hat-trick ball was slowed down even further, leading to Jaker Ali’s edge, which Rohit failed to catch.
Shortly after, Hardik Pandya dropped Hridoy on 23 during Kuldeep Yadav’s first over. Scoring runs remained a challenge on the sluggish pitch, with over 10 overs passing without a boundary, and India experienced their first spell of middle overs without taking a wicket for the first time since the 2023 World Cup final. Jaker did offer an opportunity at 24, but KL Rahul missed a stumping chance off Ravindra Jadeja.
The pair regained their momentum deeper into the innings; however, Hridoy was hindered by cramps throughout. Shami returned to the challenging task of bowling with a short leg-side boundary but effectively utilized slower balls wide outside off to not just keep the boundaries at bay but also claimed three more wickets. A brief flourish from Rishad Hossain and Hridoy’s resilience, despite severe cramps, propelled Bangladesh to a competitive total.
Rohit continued his trend of aggressive starts, with Gill matching his shots as India surged against the three Bangladesh quick bowlers. Just before the field was about to spread, Rohit was dismissed for 41 off 36 while attempting to make the most of the field restrictions. Following his wicket, scoring became a strained affair. Even the usually prolific Virat Kohli struggled to find gaps and was ultimately dismissed again to a leg-spinner, this time having his stumps rearranged by Rishad.
Shreyas Iyer adapted briefly to the conditions, but after scoring a few runs and hitting a boundary off Mustafizur Rahman, he overreached and lobbed a slower delivery to mid-off, getting out for 15 off 17. Promoted to break the sequence of right-handed batters and to keep an eye on the net run rate, Axar went for an aerial slog-sweep and misjudged Rishad’s topspinner.
In the last three wickets, 75 runs were lost, taking 20.2 overs to fall. One might have expected that KL Rahul’s presence would restore some calm; however, he attempted an uncharacteristic hoick early on and was dropped by Jaker, whom he had earlier reprieved. That ultimately proved to be Bangladesh’s last chance, as India triumphed, overcoming memories of their chasing failures in Sri Lanka last year.
Gill was the key figure, anchoring the chase and ensuring he remained at the crease until the end. He was on 26 off 23 when Rohit was dismissed, but as the game progressed, he tightened his approach and began taking calculated risks. His next boundary came only when the speedy Tanzim Hasan returned to the attack. By the 32nd over, he had brought up his slowest fifty.
Gill was content to take singles against the spinners and even against Mustafizur, who was employing a tricky slower ball to exploit the conditions. Following Rohit’s exit, he scored just 30 runs off 52 balls, then shifted gears before finishing the match in style. He needed 12 runs out of the final 19 to complete his century, hitting a six and a four off Tanzim to reach the milestone off 125 balls, taking a bow in the process. Rahul then sealed the victory for India with a six off Tanzim, finishing the match with 21 balls to spare.
Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo