India need 308 to beat Bangladesh in 1st ODI at Dhaka

Before the start of this three-match One-Day International (ODI) series, it was expected this new looked Bangladesh team will be a tough nut to crack, especially in limited overs format and the ‘Bangla-Tigers’ did no harm to their reputation. Thanks to some inspired knocks by Soumya Sarkar, Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman the hosts have given India a challenging total of 308 to chase in the first ODI at Dhaka. At one point of time it looked Bangladesh would score much more, but Indian bowlers made a late comeback and restricted the hosts to a manageable total. Live Updates: India vs Bangladesh 2015, 1st ODI at Dhaka

It was a typical hot, humid and cloudy day at Dhaka with a high percentage of humidity. Under these conditions, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and decided to bat first. The decision was quite surprising as rain was predicted later in the day. The hosts included two debutants on their ranks, batsman Litton Das and left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman. They are playing four pace bowlers in this game. On the other hand the Indian team had no surprise inclusion. They went for their best eleven. Live Scorecard: India vs Bangladesh 2015, 1st ODI at Dhaka

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Bangladesh had a flying start of the innings as both openers Sarkar and Iqbal came out all guns blazing. Indian pacers bowled bit short initially and gave the Bangla openers enough opportunities to play cut and pull shots. The slowness of the wicket also went in their favour as Indian pacers failed to get anything out of the deck.

Both Sarkar and Iqbal put up the highest opening partnership (102) for Bangladesh against India. The previous best was 80, when Iqbal was involved with Imrul Kayes in 2010. Meanwhile today, Indian bowlers didn’t have any clue against the Bangladesh openers. Both Sarkar and Iqbal reached their half-centuries. Finally the partnership was broken following an unfortunate run out of Sarkar. Just after that, as predicted, the rain gods arrived at Dhaka and the game had to stop. At that point of time Bangladesh were 119 for one in 15.4 overs.

The match resumed after a break of 63 minutes, though no over was deducted. But the rain break had a clear effect on the momentum of the Bangladesh batters. Ravichandran Ashwin struck thrice and brought India back in the game. He removed Iqbal, Litton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim. Amongst those three, Iqbal and Rahim played very poor shots and threw their wickets away. Withing a gap of few overs, Bangladesh  were restricted from 123 for one to 146 for four.

From there Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman steadied the hosts with a 83-run partnership. Both batted quite aggressively and kept the run ran flow going. Later in the innings Nasir Hossain and Morataza scored some handy runs to help Bangladesh cross the 300-run mark, their best ever score against India.

Amongst Indian bowlers Ashwin was undoubtedly the best bowlers on show. He finished with a figure of three for 51 in his 10 overs. Apart from him Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav got two wickets each. MS Dhoni also used Suresh Raina’s dibbly dobbly off-spin and Virat Kohli’s medium pace, which cost only 52 runs in 12 overs. Kohli also did the wicket-keeping job from brief period of time during the course of this innings.

ODI cricket has seen some drastic chances in recent times. These days scores of 350 are not safe anymore, as we have seen in the ongoing England-New Zealand series. So if the Indian batting play to their potential, chasing down 308 won’t be a problem for men in blue. But strange things do happen in cricket.

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh 307 in 49.4 overs (Soumya Sarkar 54, Tamim Iqbal 60, Shakib Al Hasan 52; Ravichandran Ashwin 3 for 51) vs India.

Full Scorecard

(Sandipan Banerjee is a reporter at CricketCountry. Cricket has been the biggest passion for him since his childhood. So, when it came to choosing his career, he chose to turn his passion into his profession. Apart from cricket he likes mountain trekking, river rafting, and photography. His twitter handle is @im_sandipan)