Champions Trophy 2017, England vs Bangladesh: Plunkett's double strike is SK Turning Point of the match
The inaugural match of the prestigious ICC Champions Trophy took place between the hosts England and Bangladesh at the Kennington Oval in London. As expected, it turned out to be a run-feast as the batsmen enjoyed their time in the middle and the bowlers had a tough day at work.
England won the toss and surprisingly enough, chose to bowl first. Bangladesh's innings started with the openers building a solid platform. They didn't lose any wickets in the first powerplay. Soumya Sarkar was the first one to go in the 12th over after adding 56 alongside Tamim Iqbal. Imrul Kayes didn't last too long but Tamim and Mushfiqur Rahim combined well for the 3rd wicket.
The duo added 166 runs and both looked like running away with the game. They needed a huge score on the board against the strong batting line-up of England. They were well on the course to get there but all didn’t go as planned for them.
The Turning Point
The Bangladesh score reached 259/2 after 44 overs and with the two set batsmen in the form of Tamim and Mushfiqur, they could have got 70 runs easily from the last 6 overs. But Liam Plunkett ran in to bowl the 45th and proved to be the thorn in Bangladesh’s progress.
Off the 3rd ball of the over, the pacer banged one short from around the wicket. Tamim got a top edge which was caught by Jos Buttler. The batsman departed after scoring 128 off 142 balls.
To make matters worse, the other set batsman, Mushfiqur was dismissed off the very next ball. He timed one too well that landed straight into the hands off the long-on fielder as his stay at the crease was cut-short to 79 off 72 balls.
How the game panned out
The hosts being strong in the batting department were expected to bat first after winning the toss. But Eoin Morgan surprised many when he asked Bangladesh to have a bat after calling the right side of the coin. Possibly, the slightly early start enforced the move.
But there were no hiccups shown by the Bangladeshi openers as they batted well in the first powerplay. Soumya Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal mixed attack with caution and took the side safely to 36/0 after 10 overs. Sarkar looked to break the shackles and lost his wicket in the 12th over to Ben Stokes.
Imrul Kayes looked good for a while but could only manage 19 off 20 deliveries. Bangladesh needed a partnership and the call was answered beautifully by Tamim and Mushfiqur. The duo played magnificent knocks and built a wonderful platform for a big score.
But post their dismissals off consecutive deliveries, the lower middle-order couldn’t do full justice to the base provided. They could score only 43 runs off the last 5 overs which could have been plenty more had the two set batsmen not lost their wickets. At the end of 50 overs, they had 305 runs on the board having lost 6 wickets.
England’s chase got off to a poor start as Jason Roy was dismissed for just 1 run in the 3rd over. Roy couldn’t get over his poor form and suffered from another low score. This was just the kind of start Bangladesh were hoping for and they needed to capitalise from there on.
But Alex Hales and Joe Root combined well for the 2nd wicket and focussed on rebuilding the innings. The duo played the perfect foil for each other and didn’t let the required run rate creep up. They added 159 runs before Hales was dismissed in the 28th over when the score was 165.
He scored 95 runs off 86 balls with 11 fours and 2 sixes but missed the century by a narrow margin. Root was unflustered by his partner’s dismissal and carried on to bring up his hundred. He was struggling with his ankle and was limping while running but he refused to give up and carried his side past the line.
The skipper Eoin Morgan supported him perfectly and kept the scoreboard ticking. Root scored an unbeaten 133 off 129 balls with Morgan making 75 not out off 61 balls as England chased down the total in the 48th over. They won the match by 8 wickets with 16 balls to spare and got their campaign up and running.