5 min readFeb 21, 2025 09:05 AM IST
First published on: Feb 20, 2025 at 11:28 PM IST
It was the start that India needed to kick off their Champions Trophy campaign. Despite having all the arsenal that makes them a formidable white-ball outfit, there were a few doubts coming into the tournament especially against a spin-heavy attack. And through the course of their six-wicket win against Bangladesh, India went about ticking all the boxes, showing their blueprint could after all be foolproof in these conditions in Dubai where other teams are likely to struggle to get used to the nature of the surfaces.
More importantly, in the afternoon Mohammed Shami rediscovered his rhythm and their spin formula showed it would work wonders in these slow conditions, more so if they get a chance to bowl first. In the evening, a fluent Shubman Gill scored his second successive century in as many games, showing why there shouldn’t be any doubts over his spot in the ODI side. The batting depth — even if it means there is only one spot for their two X-factor bowlers Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy – is absolutely needed in these conditions and it will only make them a tough opponent to crack should the pitches remain slow going forward.
The early signs indicate that the surfaces in Dubai could get slower as the tournament progresses and test the resolve of teams that are not best equipped to change gears as and when required. By having all their matches here, India have more reasons to be optimistic when it comes to getting used to these conditions as teams arriving from Pakistan could struggle.
That the game went into 97 overs was in itself a surprise and one that wouldn’t have pleased India despite the convincing margin of victory. Made to bowl first, they had reduced Bangladesh to 32/5 inside the first powerplay and seemed to be in the mood for a kill, with the ball gripping and turning. Instead, some poor fielding which saw Rohit Sharma drop a sitter to deny Axar Patel a hat-trick in the ninth over, another drop by Hardik Pandya and a missed stumping from KL Rahul allowed Bangladesh to recover through a 154-run partnership between Towhid Hridoy (100) and Jaker Ali (68). It meant, India had to chase 229 for a win, a target which was below par, but one that definitely tested their batting line-up to an extent.
As has been the case in recent times, Rohit has a habit of killing games with the bat in the first powerplay and here he had no reasons to get rid of it. With Bangladesh seamers coming hard with the new ball and providing pace to work with, Rohit didn’t straightaway flex his muscles. But the moment he got his first boundary in the fourth over, he was on. Like the World Cup, this was an innings that ended inside the powerplay, but by the time he fell he had made 41 off the 69 runs India had on board.
From there on, began the Gill show. He had begun the night with a crisp pull but with Rohit going all out on the attack, he slowed down a bit before exploding in the ninth over with two stunning hits off Tanzim Hasan Sakib. The first one, a six, was a jaw-dropper. He just casually swatted a back-of-length delivery to the second tier over mid-wicket. A delivery later, he would walk down to another length delivery and hit it over covers leaving his captain’s mouth wide open in awe.
To put things in context, no other Indian batsman looked as controlled as Gill on this pitch when it came down to playing the big hits. And the key to it was the 23-year-old assessed the conditions, and kept shifting his gears. Though the pitch is better to bat under lights, it isn’t a one where any batsmen would be able to fluently go for boundaries. So every now and then he would go through a phase where he would bat in third gear, but would swiftly hit the top gear whenever the opportunity presented itself. That he lost Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel in the space of nine overs, and a message sent out to him from the dressing room to stay till the end also played its part, but even otherwise it was hard to see him throw it away. It was a habit that one saw in Kohli during his early years as an ODI batter. With Rahul, who was dropped on 9 at deep midwicket by Jaker Ali, providing solidity and the target getting closer, in search of his seventh century, he would hit the top gear to remain unbeaten on 101.
Earlier, although it was Shami’s five-fer that would have brought smiles to the think-tank, the spinners showed why they will have a huge role to play in this campaign. With the pitches being on the drier side, the ball gripped and turned from the word go and Axar Patel wasted no time to get rid of Tanzid Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim. Thereafter, Hridoy and Ali were prepared to play Axar and Ravindra Jadeja without taking any undue risk, choosing to target Kuldeep Yadav’s wrist-spin instead. Between the three they bowled 28 overs, gave away 123 runs for 2 wickets, but more importantly had a combined economy of 4.39, keeping Bangladesh at check.
Ahead of their much-awaited match against Pakistan, India went home ticking all the boxes.
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