Shami and Gill team up to secure India's victorious beginning

Gill's magnificent unbeaten 101 (129 balls, including 9 fours and 2 sixes) under the Dubai night sky led India to a convincing six-wicket victory over Bangladesh in their opening Champions Trophy match on Thursday.

After his ton in the last ODI at Ahmedabad, Gill got another one to continue his rich vein of form. After 50 matches into his ODI career, Gill’s batting average has climbed above 60, with the promise of so much more to come. Some of his inside out strokes fully negated whatever threat Bangladesh’s newfound pace mojo threatened to pose.

India’s run chase of 229 wasn’t entirely convincing especially during the middle overs, a phase in which the Indian bowlers couldn’t get any wickets either.

Rohit-Gill tango

Rohit Sharma and Gill can produce thrill-a-minute cricket when they decide to hit the high gears early.

Rohit takes the risks. Gill sends the ball soaring without putting his wicket on the line. For the first ten overs, that was Indian batting’s happy space.

Rohit decided to break the shackles imposed by Mustafizur’s natural left-arm angle. After a few play-and-misses, he used the feet to upset his length. Gill’s stroke play would regale even more. His front foot pull, off pacer Taskin Ahmed, went 98 meters and even left Rohit in awe.

Then Rohit 41 (36b) fell, taking one risk too many in the final over of the Powerplay with India at 69/1. Had the captain done his job? With the benefit of hindsight, looking at India’s stuttering batting in the middle overs on a sluggish surface, Rohit’s daredevilry gave the team a good boost. In any case, Rohit has come too far with this game plan to now turn back.

After Rohit, whether it was Virat Kohli’s unconvincing 22 (38b), Shreyas Iyer (15) falling prey to Mustafizur Rahman’s slower ball, Axar Patel’s caught and bowled to Rishad Hossain’s leg spin, but for Gill, India could not dominate. It’s an area India would want to get better at with more matches to come on similar surfaces. The next one against Pakistan on Sunday.

However, India will take heart from KL Rahul’s calming influence, which came to the fore towards the backend of the innings after they were reduced to 144/4 in 30 overs.

Rahul was able to deliver just the kind of innings (41 not out off 47 balls, 1x4,2x6) which helped him get the nod over Rishabh Pant. While Pant, with his left-handedness and flamboyance, could be distinctively different proposition, for now, the team appears keener to invest in Rahul’s experience of navigating through the middle overs.

Had KL Rahul, on 9, been caught by Jaker Ali early in his innings though, things could have become trickier with India still 65 runs away. Missed chances in the field were a recurring theme in the match.

Hat-trick drop

Axar Patel could have become the second bowler in Champions Trophy history to take a hat-trick after Jerome Taylor’s 2006 feat in Mumbai. If only, Rohit Sharma had not dropped a sitter at slip. It could have been Axar’s third wicket in his first four balls.

Axar was given the first use of the ball on a dry Dubai pitch, before Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja, two of India’s most productive spinners. On back of the left-arm spinner’s utility to bowl in the T20 powerplay, Axar came to ball in the 9th over itself. Bangladesh was already pushed back by the pacers, three wickets down. Surely, it could not have become any worse. It did.

Axar got one to hold from an angle and caught the left-handed Tanzid Hasan’s (25) outside edge to the keeper. Next ball, he kissed Mushfiqur Rahim’s outside edge to get him first ball. Then, Rohit’s fielding lapse gave Jaker Ali a life. And another on 24 when KL Rahul missed a stumping after Ravindra Jadeja beat him in flight. Had Axar completed a hat-trick, Bangladesh would have been reduced to 35/6.

With Ali 68 (114b) playing anchor and Hridoy 100 (118b, 6x4,2x6) showing a whole range of strokes, the duo put together a 154-run partnership off 206 balls. Hridoy made India pay heavily after getting a life on 23 when he was dropped by Hardik Pandya off Kuldeep.

Few batters can slog sweep an on-song Jadeja with ease as Hridoy did. By playing spin well, sweeping at will and going inside out when Kuldeep flighted the ball, Hridoy led the way, never allowing India to make any inroads in the middle overs. India had the experience of Shami (10-0-53-5) to lean on to help them keep Bangladesh in check.

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