A few hours after the bowling unit helped the Indian women’s cricket team set up a win against Pakistan in the 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, the bowlers in the Indian men’s team played a crucial role to help the team get a seven-wicket win in the first match of the bilateral series against Bangladesh on Sunday.
Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh was the pick of the bowlers with a dominant display, picking up three wickets for 14 runs in 3.5 overs.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and decided that the new-look Indian team will field first at the Gwalior International Cricket Stadium.
Singh got the better of Litton Das in the first over itself, and then bowled out Bangladesh’s other opener Parvez Hossain Emon in the first ball of the third over to peg the visitors back to 14/2.
Varun Chakravarthy, who also took three wickets, then got in on the act with the dismissal of Towhid Hridoy.
Hardik Pandya, Mayank Yadav and Washington Sundar also contributed with wickets as the Indians bowled out Bangladesh for a paltry 127, with Singh taking the final wicket of Mustafizur Rahman with a fine yorker.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz (unbeaten on 35) and skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (27 off 25) were the only players in the Bangladesh lineup to provide any resistance.
In the chase, Yadav sent in Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma in as the openers and the duo started off aggressively. Sharma was eventually run out after a quickfire 16 off seven that included two boundaries and a six.
Yadav then joined in the act with a 29-run innings that saw him hit two boundaries and three sixes in his 14-ball stay, with Jaker Ali taking a catch at deep square leg off Rahman’s bowling.
Later Samson also departed for 29 off 19, holing one out to Rishad Hossain at midwicket.
Nitish Kumar Reddy and Hardik Pandya then steadied the innings with India at 80/3, putting up a 52-run partnership to get the team over the line.
The teams will meet for the second T20 match in the series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on October 9.
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