COLOMBO: Shubman Gill's century went in vain as India lost to Bangladesh by 6 runs in their Asia Cup Super 4 match in Colombo on Friday.
Chasing 266 runs to win, while the other batters struggled to put on the runs Gill scored his 5th ODI century but was dismissed for 121 off 133 balls. They managed 259 runs in 49.5 overs.
India got off to a disastrous start in their chase of 266, with debutant Tanzim Sakib getting two early breakthroughs.
Sakib first ran through the defences of Rohit Sharma to dismiss him for a second ball duck before taking out India's debut Tilak Varma for 5 two overs later.
Just when India were going well with Shubman Gill and KL Rahul putting on a fighting 50-run stand, Mahedi Hasan breaks the partnership.
Gill-Ishan Kishan partnership lasted barely six overs with the latter out leg before off the bowling of Hasan Miraz.
Gill and Suryakumar Yadav put on a 45-run partnership before SKY was bowled by Shakib for 28.
Axer Patel kept India’s hopes alive before his departure in the penultimate over. He made 42 runs from 34 balls.
Earlier, captain Shakib Al Hasan and Towhid Hridoy hit half-centuries before the lower-order batters stepped up in carrying Bangladesh to 265/8.
Pushed into batting first, Tanzid Hasan smashed three beautiful boundaries, two of which were back-to-back well-timed drives against Shardul Thakur. Mohammed Shami brought India’s first breakthrough by getting the ball to move in off the seam and cast Litton Das through the gate.
In the next over, Shardul dismissed Tanzid, who dragged in to his stumps while trying to pull a short ball. Anamul Haque Bijoy, playing in his first ODI since December 2022, became Shardul’s second victim when he top-edged a pull to wicketkeeper KL Rahul, leaving Bangladesh at 28/3 in 5.4 overs.
India could have got Bangladesh into more trouble in the 10th over if debutant Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav hadn’t dropped catches to get Mehidy Hasan out off Shardul’s bowling. Four overs later, though, Mehidy pushed at a turning-away delivery from Axar Patel with hard hands and edged to Rohit Sharma at slip moving to his right.
At 59/4, with no Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh were in trouble. Shakib stepped up with his calculative play to top score with 80 and shared a 101-run partnership with Hridoy, who made a lovely 54.
The lower-order of Nasum Ahmed, Mahedi Hasan, and Tanzim Hasan Sakib were impressive in hitting 44, 29 not out, and 14 not respectively against an Indian bowling line-up minus Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj to set a target of 266 for the Rohit Sharma-led side to win the match. Agencies
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