India lost a nail-bitter match in the first ODI of the three-match series against Bangladesh by one wicket being played here at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday.
India lost their first One Day International against Bangladesh after seven years which came in the year 2015. Defending a modest 187-run target, India need early wickets and Deepak Dhahar did exactly that dismissing opener Najmul Hossain Shanto in the very first ball of the match.
Chahar alongwith other pacers bowled a tight line and that did not allow Bangladesh batters to score runs freely and which resulted in Anamul Haque’s wicket who became Mohammed Siraj’s victim.
They desperately needed a partnership and captain Litton Das and star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan did exactly that. The duo took Bangladesh’s team total beyond the 50-run mark in 14.5 overs. Washington Sundar then broke the 48-run partnership between the two dismissing skipper Litton Das for 41 off 63 balls. Next Shakib Al Hasan became his victim as he dismissed him for 29 leaving Bangladesh in a spot of bother at 95/4.
Wicket-keeper batter Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah then somehow took Bangladesh’s total to the triple-figure mark.
The 33-run partnership between the two was broken by Shardul Thakur who dismissed Mahmudullah’s leg-before wicket for 14. In the very next ball of the next over Rahim was dismissed by Siraj for 18 to leave Bangladesh tottering at 128/6.
Debutant Kuldeep Sen who was expensive in his first spell got his first ODI scalp in the form of Afif Hossain for 6. Three balls later Sen struck again dismissing Ebadot Hossain for a duck as he was out and hit a wicket to leave Bangladesh in trouble for 135/8.
In the next over Siraj struck for the third time dismissing Hasan Mahmud for a duck to make the matters worse for the host at 136/9. The moment it seemed that India will run away with the match the turnaround happened.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz along with Mustafizur Rahman batted cautiously to take the team’s total beyond the 150-run mark in 40.4 overs. After that Miraz took control and started hitting boundaries and sixes to take Bangladesh to an improbable win and in the process struck an unbeaten 50-run partnership. Miraz played a brilliant knock of 38 off 39 balls remaining not out right till the end hitting four boundaries and two sixes while Mustafizur Rahman remained unbeaten on 10.
Brief Scores: India: 186/10 in 41.2 overs (KL Rahul 73, Rohit Sharma 27; Shakib Al Hasan 5/36) vs Bangladesh 187/9 in 46 overs (Litton Das 41, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 38*; Mohammed Siraj 3/32).