IND vs BAN | Explosive India make light work of paltry chase as Tigers crumble in opening T20I

Asked to bat first, Bangladesh got off to a horrid start at the Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium as Litton Das skied one off Arshdeep on the fifth ball of the match to hand the hosts their first breakthrough. His young opening partner Parvez Hossain Emon tried to showcase his intent with a six off Hardik Pandya in the second over but ended up inside edging an Arshdeep ball onto his stumps in the next over to hand momentum back to the Men in Blue. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav seized the opportunity to bring Varun Chakravarthy, returning to Indian colours after three years, into the attack for the penultimate over of the powerplay, and the mystery spinner nearly struck on his second ball if not for debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy misjudging the ball on the boundary. Towhid Hridoy and Najmul Hossain Shanto capitalzed by racking up 15 runs in the over until the other debutant Mayank Yadav restored status quo with a dream maiden to begin his international career, leaving the score reading 39/2 after six. The pressure culminated in Towhid and Mahmudullah holing out to Varun and Mayank respectively before a brilliant offbreak from the former dispatched Jaker Ali to further the Tigers’ collapse  to 64/5 at the halfway mark. Shanto, who had been watching from the other end, tried to instill some stability with a placid 27 but was left distraught when he chipped one straight to Washington Sundar in the 12th over. Nevertheless, Mehidy Hasan Miraz took over rescuing responsibilities once again, first combining with Rishad Hossain for 15 off Mayank right after and then shepherding Taskin Ahmed in a 23-run stand. However, once the latter was run-out, the innings folded quickly for 127 with Miraz unbeaten on 35.

In response, the Men in Blue got off to a rolicking start, as Sanju Samson struck two boundaries down the ground in the opening over while Abhishek Sharma struck a maximum and two fours in the secondbefore succumbing to a mix-up after a seven-ball cameo for 16. Nevertheless, Samson and Suryakumar marauded on,  the latter walloping Taskin for 14 runs through the leg side in the fifth over in a fascinating battle of wits. The skipper added one more six to his tally before hitting a Mustafizur Rahman delivery straight down square leg’s throat to end an entertaining 14-ball cameo, taking the powerplay score to a mammoth 71/2. Rishad Hossain earned the Tigers another consolation scalp by having Samson caught at deep midwicket for 29 before Pandya and Nitish rushed through the remainder of the chase, the former bringing up the winning runs with two boundaries and a six in the 13th over.