Hridoy's fighting maiden ODI ton drags Bangladesh to 228

A fighting maiden ODI century from Towhid Hridoy and a five-fer for Mohammed Shami were the highlights from the first half of the Bangladesh-India Champions Trophy group stage encounter in Dubai. An excellent first powerplay from India saw Bangladesh lose half their XI for just 35 runs before Hridoy rescued his side alongside Jaker Ali with a memorable partnership that has eventually given them something to fight with in the second half.

Bangladesh were in trouble right from the beginning after opting to bat. Shami got one to come in with the angle from around the wicket to Soumya Sarkar in the very first over and the batter could only manage an inside edge in his attempt to drive. Harshit Rana, picked ahead of Arshdeep Singh, was gifted a wicket at the other end as Najmul Hossain threw his bat at a wide delivery to hit the ball straight to Virat Kohli. After two overs, Bangladesh found themselves reeling at 2/2.

That didn't deter Tanzim Hasan from opening up as he hit consecutive boundaries off Shami before adding one more off him in his next over. But just when it appeared like Tanzim and Mehidy Hasan would steady the ship, disaster struck as Shami got rid of the latter.

Things only went from bad to worse as early as in the ninth over when Axar was introduced. The left-arm spinner bowled one that was angled across to Tanzim which was edged to the keeper. The very next delivery saw a bit more flight from Axar to Mushfiqur Rahim and this time the ball slightly turned away after pitching to take the outside edge again. Axar should have had a hat-trick at that stage as Jaker pushed at a delivery outside off and got an edge only for Rohit Sharma to fluff an easy chance at first slip. But apart from denying Axar a hat-trick, the dropped chance also cost India heavily as Jaker then combined with Hridoy to lead Bangladesh's recovery.

While they could have easily been reduced to 35/6, Bangladesh's sixth-wicket pair added 154 to bail their side out of trouble. Understandably, both the batters were more than happy to be patient and bat out the overs. In the process, Hridoy received a reprieve too with Hardik dropping him at mid-off. Rohit did re-introduce Shami and Rana at one point to break the stand but that attempt proved to be futile. Post the drinks break, Jaker got to his fifty off 87 balls whereas Hridoy took 84 to reach his landmark.

The run rate started climbing only after Hridoy started opening up with a few boundaries, including a six off Kuldeep. Another slog sweep for six followed in the next over, the 40th of the innings, against Ravindra Jadeja which finally dragged Bangladesh's run rate past 4. Now with both batters finally opening up by fetching quick runs, there was a cause for concern in the bowling camp before Shami broke the massive stand to pick up his 200th wicket in the format, the quickest to get there in terms of balls bowled.

Rishad Hossain, who took seven balls to open his account, chipped in with a vital cameo that saw him go 4,6,6 against Axar to help his side breach 200 but with wickets falling in clusters again and Hridoy struggling severely due to cramps, Bangladesh's late surge wilted. The wickets at the death helped Shami complete his five-fer as Bangladesh folded for 228 shortly after Hridoy completed his century.

Brief scores: Bangladesh 228 in 49.4 overs (Towhid Hridoy 100, Jaker Ali 68; Mohammed Shami 5/53, Harshit Rana 3/31) vs India