Dubai, Feb 20: Veteran pacer Mohammed Shami stepped up to come good in ICC tournaments yet again by picking his sixth five-wicket haul in ODIs as India bowled out Bangladesh for 228 in 49.4 overs in a Group A match at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday.

On a slow pitch, Shami was the standout bowler for India, striking in the first 10 overs and at the back end to take his fifth five-for in an ICC ODI tournament. He was well-supported by Harshit Rana taking 3-31, while Axar Patel took 2-43, though he missed his hat-trick.

India were a little sloppy in the field and a bit flat in the middle overs, resulting in Towhid Hridoy and Jaker Ali leading Bangladesh’s superb recovery from 35/5 to 228 through a dogged 154-run partnership.

While Jaker made 68 off 114 balls, Hridoy made his first century in international cricket through a 118-ball knock as the duo gave their bowlers a fighting total to defend. Shami provided the first breakthrough for India when he got the ball to seam in and take the inside edge of Soumya Sarkar’s attempted drive, with K.L. Rahul taking a simple catch.

One brought two for India as Najmul Hossain Shanto couldn’t keep his drive down and was caught at short cover off Harshit. Though Tanzid Hasan hit three excellent boundaries, India continued to chip away as Mehidy Hasan Miraz cut hard off Shami but was caught by the first slip taking it over his head.

Tanzid’s impressive stay ended when he looked to play Axar for the turn but gave a thick outside edge behind to wicket-keeper Rahul.

Axar, though, got the very next delivery to turn and extracted an outside edge off Mushfiqur Rahim and have him caught by Rahul for a golden duck. Axar could have gotten his hat-trick if Rohit Sharma hadn’t dropped a sitter off Jaker at first slip, as Bangladesh ended the first power-play at 39/5.

From there, Jaker and Hridoy were patient in resurrecting the innings – taking their time to rotate the strike and hitting boundaries whenever a loose ball – either a short ball or anything outside off-stump came their way.

They were also helped by some reprieves – Hridoy was dropped on 23 by Hardik Pandya at mid-off, while Jaker survived a stumping off Ravindra Jadeja as K.L. Rahul failed to collect the ball when he was on 24.

Jaker ended a 63-ball boundary drought by unfurling a lovely on-drive off Harshit for four, before sweeping Kuldeep Yadav for another boundary and taking a brace off him to get his second ODI fifty off 87 balls. In the next over, Hridoy brought up his fifty in 85 balls with a thick edge off Jadeja going for four.

Hridoy showed an adventurous side of him by lofting and slog-sweeping Kuldeep and Jadeja for a six each. After Jaker pulled Shami for four, Hridoy hit him for two boundaries as the duo got the record for the highest sixth-wicket partnership in the Champions Trophy and against India in ODIs.

But India finally broke the 154-run partnership as Jaker toe-ended a slog off a wide slower ball from Shami to long-on, giving the veteran pacer his 200th ODI wicket. With Hridoy struggling due to the Dubai heat, Rishad Hossain took Axar to the cleaners by hitting four and two sixes, before guiding straight to short-third off Harshit.

Though Shami had Tanzim Hasan Sakib chopping onto his stumps, a cramping and barely moving Hridoy thumped a drive for four and held fort to get his first ODI hundred in 114 balls. Shami finally got his five-wicket haul when Taskin Ahmed swiped straight to deep mid-wicket before Harshit had Hridoy top-edging to short fine leg to end with a three-fer on his Champions Trophy debut.

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

(IANS)

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