Sports Desk

Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz struck gritty knocks after Shakib Al Hasan bagged five wickets to help Bangladesh carve out a narrow 1-wicket win over India in the first ODI in Mirpur.

Sent in to bat first, the visitors struggled to stitch substantial partnerships and folded for a measly 186 with KL Rahul topscoring with 73 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur.

In reply, skipper Litton led from the front with 41 but India hit back to trigger a late collapse where Bangladesh lost 5 wickets for only 8 runs.

But Miraz dug deep and scored an unbeaten 38 to pair in an amazing unbroken 51-run last-wicket stand off just 40 balls with Mustafiur Rahman (10) and push the Tigers across the finishing line with four overs to spare.

Bangladesh dominated most of the game and the chase boiled down to them needing 59 off 91 balls with Mushfiqur Rahim (18) and Mahmudullah (14) at the crease and Shakib (29) already back in the hutch.

But Shardul Thakur (1-21), Mohammed Siraj (3-32) and debutant Kuldeep Sen (2-37) turned 128 for 4 to 136 for 9 in the space of 26 balls.

With Miraz still out in the middle as their last recognised batsman, Mustafizur delivered impetus by punching Siraj through the covers for the hosts’ first boundary in 105 balls. Miraz then took over the hitting and slashed, pulled, drove and scooped with little to lose.

The attack made Indian fielders lose the plot. Wicketkeeper Rahul put down a sitter after running all the way to backward square leg, Washington Sundar let a miscued skier fall harmlessly to the ground after losing its sight, Deepak Chahar conceded overthrows and Washington, again, let the ball slip past him.

As the duo cleverly rotated the strike with Mustafizur mostly avoiding strike but being sensible when he is on, Miraz slashed hard for a boundary off the first ball of the 46th over to bring the equation down to needing just 4.

A direct hit from Rohit Sharma needed the third umpire’s intervention, but the not out decision blew the roof off the stadium with the scores level.

Chahar (1-32) then brought all the fielders close inside the circle, but Miraz picked out a gap and put his team 1-0 up in the three-match series with an unlikely win.

Earlier, Shakib (5-36) and Ebadot Hossan (4-47) extracted the best out of a two-paced surface to restrict India to their second-lowest total against Bangladesh.

Litton, standing in for injured regular captain Tamim Iqbal, introduced Miraz (1-43) into the attack as early as in the fourth over. The offspinner ripped past Shikhar Dhawan’s edge in his first over, before ricocheting off the batsman’s pad and gloves into the stumps in his next.

Shakib also joined the foray inside the powerplay and his double strike in the 11th over set the tone.

He went through the gates of Rohit after the Indian skipper scored a fluent 27 two balls before having Virat Kohli (9) caught behind for a stunner.

India recovered through two partnerships, both involving Rahul, but Ebadot used the short ball to cut them short.

The seamer took out Shreyas Iyer (24) to end his 42-run stand with Rahul who pushed the men in blue to 152 before Shakib triggered a mini collapse.

After Ebadot dropped Sundar (19) off Miraz, Shakib returned to the attack and Sundar, who had played 40 balls without a boundary, went for a reverse sweep only to hole out at backward point, starting a slide.

Ebadot sent Shahbaz Ahmed packing for a duck, caught by Shakib, before the southpaw castled Thakur (2) and trapped Chahar in front in another wily double-strike over.

India lost 4 wickets for 4 runs, slipping to 156 for 8.

Rahul became Ebadot’s third scalp and Mohammed Siraj was his fourth three balls later, both falling to short deliveries, with India caving inside 41.2 overs.

Adjudged Man of the Match, Miraz said: “Thanks to Allah. I am really excited. Mustafizur and I just thought that we need to believe.

“I just told him to stay calm and play 20 balls. I am really enjoying bowling. The wicket in the morning was a bit tricky, and I enjoyed bowling. This performance is really memorable for me.”

At the post-match ceremony, skipper Litton said: “Very happy. When I was in the dressing room, I was really nervous, but the way Fizz and Miraz batted, I enjoyed it a lot. The bowlers bowled really well at the start.”

“When Shakib and I were batting, we thought we could chase it easily. But when we got out, it got tricky. I had faith on the others but I have no words to describe this feeling. Congratulations to Miraz.”

Indian skipper Rohit said: “It was a very close game. We did very well to come back into the game. We did not bat well. We bowled pretty well and kept them under pressure till the end.”

“They held their nerves in the backend. If you look back at how we bowled, of course the last few overs, we would have liked to get a wicket. We kept taking wickets all through. It wasn't enough runs.”