Shakib Al Hasan, Ebadot Hossain and Litton Das starred, with a smashing cameo from Mehidy Hasan Miraz, to help Bangladesh beat India by 1 wicket in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS) in Mirpur, Dhaka, on Sunday.
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India had gotten the perfect start after Najmul Hossain Shanto was sent back by Deepak Chahar on the very first ball of the innings as the Bangladeshi opener edged behind to Rohit Sharma.
Anamul Haque, was the second wicket to fall as Mohammed Siraj’s delivery into the pads hit striaght to Washington Sundar at mid-wicket in the last over of the first powerplay.
Litton was going well and had stitched a decent partnership with Shakib for the third wicket but Sundar returned with the ball to bamboozle him with his off-spin. The opener had tickled the bfast-spinning all to keeper KL Rahul. Skipper Liton made 41 runs from 63 ball, with the aid of three fours and one six.
Soon after Sundar struck again, with the help of a stunning ctahc from Virat Kogli, to send back Shakib, who was looking to lead his team to victory with the bat too.
Mahmudullah was trapped by Shardul Thakur with a sharp incoming delivery as Mushfiqur Rahim soon followed his compatriot back to the dressing room when he was bowled by Siraj.
Debutant Kuldeep Sen removed Afif Hossain and Ebadot Hossain in the 39th over as Bangladesh’s chase looked over.
In the very next over, Siraj trapped Hasan Mahmud LBW but Mehidy Hasan Miraz proved his credentials with the bat.
Mehidy smashed a 39-ball 38 and with Mustafizur Rahman, who hit 10 runs from 11 balls, for 50-run stand for the last wicket and took Bangladesh home.
Earlier, Shakib Al Hasan spearheaded an inspired Bangladesh bowling attack with five wickets to knock over India for 186.
KL Rahul managed to keep the visitors in the game, scoring 73 off 70 balls, while his teammates fell at regular intervals at the other end after Bangladesh elected to field to start the three-match series.
All-rounder Shakib, who bowls left-arm spin, claimed his fourth five-wicket ODI haul with an impressive 5-36 that included the key wickets of returning skipper Rohit Sharma (27) and Virat Kohli (nine).
Pace bowler Ebadot Hossain played the main supporting role to take four wickets and wrap up the Indian innings in 41.2 overs.
It was Shakib’s double strike that took the wind out of India’s batting.
He first bowled Rohit on the second ball of his opening over, before getting Kohli to hit into extra cover two balls later where captain Liton Das took a stunning one-handed catch.
Shreyas Iyer and Rahul, who comes into the side as wicketkeeper-batsman after regular glovesman Rishabh Pant was ruled out of the series with an injury, attempted to rebuild with a 43-run stand.
Ebadot broke through their defences, getting Iyer caught behind for 24 as India slipped to 92-4 in 20 overs.
Rahul stood firm and amassed another 60 runs with Washington Sundar (19), taking on the Bangladesh bowlers and bringing up his fifty with a boundary.
But Shakib ended that stand and any further resistance, getting Sundar caught going for a reverse sweep and then striking twice more to flatten the Indian batting.
Rahul, who hit five fours and four sixes, dragged the innings into the 40th over before falling to Ebadot with a mistimed pull shot that was lapped up by Anamul Haque in the deep.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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