Courtesy: BCCI/X
On Sunday, October 6, India defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets in the first T20I of the three-match series at the Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium in Gwalior. After bundling out Bangladesh on 127 in 19.5 with three-wickets each to Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakravarthy, some quick-fire contributions from the Indian batters were more than enough for India to chase down the target with 49 balls to spare.
Notably, after winning the toss, the Indian captain, Suryakumar Yadav decided to field first, and his decision paid dividends the bowlers dismissed the Bangladesh openers Litton Das and Parvez Hossain Emon for single-digit scores. After debutant Mayank Yadav bowled a maiden to start off his international career against Towhid Hridoy, he picked up his first wicket in the next over of Mahmudullah Riyad.
India kept chipping away at the wickets throughout the Bangladesh innings, not allowing them to shift gears at any stage despite a couple of good innings from captain Najmul Hossain Shanto (27 off 25) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (35* off 32). They were eventually restricted to a paltry score with all the Indian bowlers picking up at least a wicket except for debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy.
In the run chase, Abhishek Sharma got off an absolute flyer with 16 off 7 before he was run out in the second over of the Indian innings after a misunderstanding with Sanju Samson, his opening partner. Captain Suryakumar Yadav walked out the crease, and he continued the attacking momentum with his 29 off just 14 with two fours and a maximum, an identical score to Sanju Samson.
Following their dismissals in quick succession, Hardik Pandya and Nitish Kumar Reddy kept taking the Bangladesh bowlers to the cleaners before the former finished off the match in style with a maximum.
