Champions Trophy 2025 | LIVE BLOG: India vs Bangladesh

A match where both the teams had to graft. Bangladesh recovered spectacularly from 35/5, and with the ball they made India work hard for runs despite conceding a quick start. Had Jaker held KL’s catch with 63 runs still required at that stage, the game could’ve panned out differently. Hard-fought wins are always satisfying and India will have their tails up going into the blockbuster clash against Pakistan. They must have developed a good understanding of the pitch’s behaviour in Dubai.

KL Rahul has a rush of blood and gets away with it. All that was expected out of him was to nudge the ball around and support Gill. Out of the blue, he decided to slog at a length delivery. This isn’t a true surface to be adventuring like this.

Rahul dragged the hit off the inner half of the bat. Jaker seemed set to catch that but he spills it. Did he lose it in the lights? The lights are quite low at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Massive escape for India.

Jaker was the beneficiary of a dropped catch on nought and he has duly repaid the favour, much to Bangladesh’s annoyance.

Can Bangladesh snare another scalp or two to complexify the equation for India or will the ace batters in Gill and Rahul polish off the remaining runs without much hassle? India have their noses ahead at this point but cricket is a funny old game.

What seemed like an achievable task is suddenly starting to appear a wee bit challenging as India have slided from 69/0 to 144/4. Shreyas and Axar exit in the bid to take the game on and India need the tranquil KL Rahul and the well-set Gill to see them home. The pre-tournament favourites need 84 runs from 19 overs.

Rishad has two wickets to his name. The ball is stopping and turning, hence Bangladesh are in with a shout.

He’s anchoring the chase beautifully even as Kohli perished in an attempt to cut Rishad Hossain. Calm and composed innings from the opener, whose strong performance in ODIs earned him the vice-captaincy of the Indian team recently.

India are playing percentage cricket after Rohit’s departure. There have been no extravagant shots from Gill and Kohli is going about his business as usual. Bangladesh would surely be heaving a sigh of relief the way things are going because the run-rate was plump when Rohit was being his freewheeling self.

A length delivery outside off, Rohit advances to loft. He is taken aback by the ball pitching in the shorter zone and makes a complete meal of the slice over point. The miscue goes straight up, point backpedals and takes the catch comfortably. Rohit got India off to a flier and he departs for 41 off 36 balls.

Rohit threaded the off-side ring with an awe-inspiring backfoot slash and Gill betters his captain with an authoritative short-arm jab for six over mid-wicket. He isn’t satisfied with a solo boundary though and wants more from the over. Shimmies down the track to flay the length ball from Tanzim Hasan Sakib over covers. India clearly have aspirations of racing to the total because it will do their NRR a world of good in this cut-throat tournament.

Captain and Vice-captain on song in the chase! 🎶🎶

FIFTY partnership up between the openers 🤝

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— BCCI (@BCCI) February 20, 2025

Rohit has come out with the same intent he has had in ODIs recently. To go for the jugular and find the boundaries. He is batting on 27 off 25 balls and Bangladesh, who have a weak total on the board, are under pressure to stem the run flow.

MAIDEN ODI HUNDRED👏🏾

Great show of character from Towhid Hridoy as he fixed a ramshackled innings in tandem with Jaker Ali and powered through pain to give the Bangladesh bowlers something to play with. https://t.co/0ALgOurguW pic.twitter.com/rwTCgTHedG

— Guerilla Cricket #GCFromHome (@guerillacricket) February 20, 2025

Rishad Hossain played a nice cameo, brandishing two sixes and a boundary off Axar, as Bangladesh moved past 200 in style.

Hridoy is nearing his century at the other end. He is, however, limping his singles as pain shoots through his left leg. If he gets there, it would be a very hard-fought century considering his physical condition at the moment and the dungeon Bangladesh were in when him and Jaker Ali joined forces.

In the air, pouched at long-on. The wide line doing the trick for Mohammad Shami, who was feeling the heat as Bangladesh were pressing on the accelerator in the death overs. Clever bowling from Shami to serve the slower ball wide of off. He knows Jaker Ali has to fetch to access the short leg-side boundary.

Jaker backed himself to drag it across but all he did was toe-end the hit high into the sky. Virat had his eyes glued on the ball, settled under it proficiently and snared it clean. End of an outstanding innings from Jaker. Shami now has 200 wickets in ODIs – three in this game.

140 runs added by Jaker Ali and Towhid Hridoy is the highest sixth-wicket stand in all of Champions Trophy. Great show of character from the lower-middle order batters.

The right-handers slowed down the tempo of the game when Bangladesh were lurching at 35/5, to the extent that they went over 50 balls without a boundary in the rebuilding phase. But India have a reason to worry now as both the batters have crossed the fifty milestone and efforts to up the ante are becoming visible. Hridoy backed away to smash Kuldeep Yadav over covers for six and has just uncorked a brutal slog sweep against Jadeja.

While the pair deserves to be lauded for the application at the crease, India have done themselves no favours by handing three lives. Two dropped catches and a missed stumping opportunity. Jaker was, in fact, reprieved on nought.

From 35/5, they have combined to guide Bangladesh to 142/5 in 37 overs.

Jaker Ali with a classy straight drive as Hardik Pandya overpitches. The partnership is growing and India would like to curtail it as soon as possible because a small chase means a bigger victory margin which will reflect in the Net Run Rate.

Rohit Sharma was the culprit earlier and now Hardik Pandya. India took some good catches to peg Bangladesh back early but two straightforward chances have gone down as well. Tried to reverse-cup the flat hit from Hridoy at mid-off, hard hands and the ball pops out.

Reaction of India's fielding coach as Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya drop regulation chances to give Bangladesh a sniff:

Partnership between Towhid Hridoy and Jaker Ali now worth 63 from a precarious position of 35/5 in the ninth over. https://t.co/0ALgOurguW pic.twitter.com/B2TTjFddOz

— Guerilla Cricket #GCFromHome (@guerillacricket) February 20, 2025

Towhid Hridoy and Jaker Ali have stitched a small partnership worth 28(40) in their endeavour to revive Bangladesh’s innings. The Asian Tigers would hope they can kick on and usher the scorecard towards respectability. At the moment, the Indian left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Axar are getting through their overs in a flash.

Axar Patel has drawn edges from a left-hander and a right-hander on successive balls to bring Bangladesh down to their knees. He could’ve had a third as well and scripted a hat-trick but Rohit Sharma dropped an absolute sitter at first slip to deny him the accomplishment.

Bangladesh are staring down the barrel, having lost half their side in the first ten overs itself, including the captain and vice-captain, who played a loose shot against Shami.

Tanzid Hasan idolizes Tamim Iqbal and his approach reflects that. Despite Bangladesh losing two wickets early, he is not interested in a rearguard effort, taking the attack to Shami in particular.

Two soft dismissals for Bangladesh as Soumya Sarkar fell to an inside edge while Najmul Hossain Shanto drove straight to Virat Kohli at catching cover point. A wicket each for Mohammad Shami and Harshit Rana.