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Shubman Gill’s well-paced 101 and Mohammed Shami’s five-wicket haul led India to a crucial win in their 2025 Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh, in what was a gripping, rusty contest.
Shubman Gill was at his sublime best even on a slow track in Dubai. (AP Photo)
Opener and vice-captain Shubman Gill’s composed century and Mohammed Shami’s five-wicket haul led India to a comfortable six-wicket win in their 2025 Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh in Dubai, in a chaotic game, full of dropped catches and missed chances.
In the first innings, Shami started off India’s campaign on the right foot by getting Soumya Sarkar to edge one behind to wicketkeeper KL Rahul on the last ball of the first over for a duck and allaying some concerns about Jasprit Bumrah’s absence. Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto came on and went back without troubling the scorers, spooning his second ball to Virat Kohli to cover off Harshit Rana.
Ducks and Rahul’s catches were to be the feature of the innings as Rohit Sharma started utilizing his three spinners from the ninth over, with Axar Patel coming on. His second ball got a fine edge off the other opener, Tanzid Hasan’s bat which nobody seemed to have heard, except Rahul, the catcher, and the umpire, who raised his finger immediately. Hasan walked and the decision was validated in the replays.
The next ball, he made one turn — signs for the things to come — away from Mushfiqur Rahim for another catch for Rahul and the third duck of the innings. Rohit tightened the field further for the hat-trick ball but ended up dropping the easiest of catches to deny him the chance to be the first Indian with the record in the Champions Trophy. Bangladesh were at 35/5 but as the ball started to turn, so did their luck.
Towhid Hridoy got dropped in the 20s off by Kuldeep Yadav, with Hardik Pandya the culprit this time. The duo put up 154 runs together in a slow, testing partnership before Ali finally gave up his wicket for 68 (114).
If not Patel’s record, he helped Shami and Virat Kohli achieve 200 wickets and 156th ODI catch (the joint-best for India), respectively. Then, just like they started, Shami and Harshit helped India end well with regular wickets at the death. Shami reached his five-wicket haul on his Champions Trophy debut in the 49th over.
Hridoy kept at it from the other end, prodding singles and finding the occasional boundary, all while fighting serious cramps and visible fatigue every few minutes. He got to his 118-ball 100 in the final over but got out on the fourth ball, leaving Bangladesh at 228/10.
- Location :
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
