India polish off 128-run target in less than 12 overs
Player of the match Arshdeep Singh and comeback ‘mystery’ spinner Varun Chakaravarthy scalp three each
Speedster Mayank Yadav and allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy get India cap
International cricket returned to the royal city of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh 14 years after Sachin Tendulkar created history here by smashing the first double century ever in an ODI against South Africa. The venue, however, shifted from the iconic Captain Roop Singh Stadium in the heart of the city to the swanky new Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium, named after late former Indian cricket board President Madhavrao Scindia, just outside the city.
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And what a memorable inaugural international match it was at the stadium on Sunday as a new look Indian T20I side, under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav, playing clinical cricket, literally toyed with a clueless Bangladesh team to win the first match in the three-match T20I series by seven wickets in less than 12 overs on Sunday.
The match witnessed two new promising stars of Indian cricket – speedster Mayank Yadav and seaming allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy – donning the India cap for the first time.
First the bowlers made mincemeat of the Bangladesh batting lineup, with all the six bowlers on display impressing with their varying styles of bowling. India’s pace spearhead Arshdeep and ‘mystery’ spinner Varun Chakaravarthy, the latter making a comeback to international cricket after playing for the country in the T20 World Cup 2021, were the pick of the bowlers, scalping three batters each.
Arshdeep Singh was awarded the Player of the Match award with a bowling analysis of 3.5-0-14-3.
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Hardik Pandya also came good with an all-round performance, claiming one wicket and remaining unbeaten on 39 off just 16 balls with five fours and two sixes.
Mayank Yadav was right on the money from the first ball, bowling a maiden first over in his debut match, a great achievement in this format of the game. He picked up his first international wicket as well, finishing with an impressive analysis of 4-1-21-1.
Washington Sundar, picking up one wicket in his two overs, and debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy, though going wicketless in his two overs, were also equally impressive.
Bangladesh lost their big-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman Litton Das in Arshdeep’s very first over, and they did not really recover thereafter, losing wickets at regular intervals with their innings folding up at 127 in 19.5 overs. Captain Shanto (27 off 25) showed some resistance before giving a dolly caught and bowled chance to Washington Sundar, thank you so much!
Allrounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz was the highest scorer in the innings, remaining unbeaten on a well made 35 off 32 balls with three hits to the fence.
The Indian openers came all guns blazing with Abhishek Sharma being more belligerent of the two. He raced to 16 off just 7 balls with two boundaries and one maximum before he was unfortunately runout.
However, the others, including the other opener wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson and captain Suryakumar maintained the tempo of the innings. Right through the innings India maintained a run rate above 10 runs an over. Suryakumar Yadav hit the maximum number of sixes (three) out of the seven scored in the Indian innings.
India went into the match with eight bowling options. However, the other two bowling options, Abhishek Sharma and Riyan Parag, were not utilised, given Bangladesh’s dismal batting performance.
The India lineup:
Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Riyan Parag, Nitesh Kumar Reddy, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh.
