Team India thrashed Bangladesh by seven wickets in the first T20I on Sunday (October 6) to take a three-match lead. series.
Chasing a modest total of 128 runs, India crossed the finish line in 12th place. He got off to a shaky start as did the Men in Blue Abhishek Sharma He finished second after 16 runs from just 7 balls. However, Sanju Samson and captain Suryakumar Yadav steadied the ship with a 40-run stand for the second wicket.
Both of them went quickly and India fell to 80 for 3 from 65/1. However, debutants Nitish Reddy and Hardik Pandya It did not allow Bangladesh to capitalize on the twin achievements. They shared an unbeaten stand of 52 runs to take India home very comfortably.
At the start of the game, Bangladesh were bowled out for 127 runs after being asked to bat first. Arshdeep Singh denied the opener, giving India a solid start Lytton Das in the first game and India stayed on top of proceedings for the rest of the game.
Bangladesh also lost the wicket of another opener Parvez Hossain Emo to the powerplay. At one stage they were 57 for 5. At that stage, even the 100-run mark seemed like a distant dream for the Tigers.
However, Mehidy Hasan Miraz scored an unbeaten 35 and shared several useful partnerships with the lower order players to take his team to a total of 120-plus. For India, Arshdeep and Varun Chakravarthy were the pick of the bowlers as they took three wickets each.
There are always areas for improvement: Suryakumar Yadav
Speaking at the end of the game, Suryakumar Yadav expressed his satisfaction that his teammates were able to implement the plans. He said his teammates just wanted to support his skills and it paid off.
Suryakumar Yadav also said that having so many bowling options is “a good headache”. At the same time, the Indian skipper made it clear that he is not giving up on winning, stressing that there is always room for improvement.
“We just tried to back up our skills and what we decided in our team meetings and it worked. It was great for the lads to show character playing on a new pitch and for us to fight. It was a good headache when they tested you. They are on the pitch, who are they going to come up against.
Suryakumar Yadav said, “Every time you have an extra option, it’s a good thing. Every new game you learn something new. There are always some areas to improve, we will sit down and talk about it in the next game.”
High-flying Team India will now look to win the second T20I and take an elusive lead in the three-match series. The second match of the series is scheduled to be played on Wednesday (October 9) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.
