India, oozing with fresh talent, bundled out Bangladesh for a below par 127 before the batters played an array of audacious strokes to gun down the target in 11.5 overs.
A full house at the newly built Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium witnessed high quality bowling from India and largely ordinary batting from their opponents.
Mayank Yadav bowled with rattling pace in a promising debut while mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy made an impressive comeback and picked up 3 wickets. However, the standout performer among the Indian bowlers was left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh who picked up 3 wickets while giving away only 14 runs in 3.5 overs.
All eyes were on Mayank (1/21) ever since he marked his run up before toss and the 22-year-old from Delhi did not disappoint in his first competitive game in more than five months.
Having attracted global eyeballs for consistently bowling in the 150kmph range during the IPL, Mayank was able to generate serious pace in his opening spell of 2-1-3-1. His first over was a maiden.
Having suffered a side strain shortly after a sensational IPL debut, there were question marks over his fitness in the long term but he dispelled some of those doubts on Sunday.
Veteran Bangladesh batter Mahmudullah Riyad was among the batters who were wary of his extra pace and ended up becoming the pacer’s first international wicket. The 38-year-old tried to improvise by charging down the wicket but ended up slicing a regulation catch to Washington Sundar at deep point.
Varun (3/31), brought back into the team after nearly three years, troubled the Bangladesh batters who failed to read him. Among them was middle-order batter Jaker Ali who had stumps his castled with a ball that turned back in.
Like Mayank, Varun too was brought inside the powerplay. The mystery spinner bounced back after conceding 15 runs in his opening over by dismissing Towhid Hridoy (12).
Arshdeep had played his part his in the powerplay by removing openers Litton Das and Parvez Hossain Emon before picking his third wicket to end Bangladesh’s innings.
India came out to bat with uber aggressive intent with Abhishek Sharma (16 off 7) and Samson going hard from the get go. Promoted to the top of the order, Samson played a few delightful shots before falling to off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
Pick up shots off pacer Taskin Ahmed in the fifth over was the highlight of Suryakumar’s innings. The result was a foregone conclusion when India raced to 71/2 in the powerplay itself. Debutant Nitish Reddy (16*) and Hardik got the team home in a canter.
Hardik played a marvelous knock of 39 off just 16 deliveries. The inning included 5 boundaries and 2 massive sixes that guided India to the 127-run target with 49 balls to spare.
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