"It seemed at one stage a wicket might not fall at all" - Aakash Chopra on England's dominant World Cup 2023 win over Bangladesh
Aakash Chopra has lauded England's top-order batters for posting a massive total in their World Cup 2023 win against Bangladesh on Tuesday (October 10).
Jos Buttler and Co. set the Tigers a 365-run target after being asked to bat first in Dharamsala. They then bundled out Shakib Al Hasan and Co. for 227 to complete an emphatic win.
While reviewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra praised Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root for laying the foundation for England's mammoth score (8:00):
"Bangladesh opted to bowl first after winning the toss with the thinking that the pitch was going to be slow and would get better for batting later. Bairstow and Malan said it would be good for them as well."
The former India opener added:
"Malan scored nearly 150, and Bairstow also gave a good start. It seemed at one stage a wicket might not fall at all. It seemed at one stage England might score 400 runs. When Bairstow got out, Root started hitting."
Chopra pointed out that a few quick wickets limited England's score, but that wasn't good enough for Bangladesh to make a match of it:
"However, a few wickets fell after that - Jos Buttler, Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone. Bangladesh made a good comeback, but England had already made so many runs that it was almost impossible to control the game."
Malan (140), Root (82) and Bairstow (52) were the only England batters to cross the 20-run mark. The defending champions seemed headed to a 400-plus total before a few quick wickets from Mahedi Hasan (4-71) and Shoriful Islam (3-75) put a break on their charge.
"He picked up four wickets as soon as he was played" - Aakash Chopra lauds Reece Topley's spell
Reflecting on Bangladesh's chase, Aakash Chopra praised Reece Topley and Chris Woakes for bowling penetrative spells to help England register a comprehensive win (8:45):
"We had discussed after the last match whether Reece Topley could be played. They did that, and he picked up four wickets as soon as he was played.
"He took three at the start itself. Chris Woakes also picked up wickets. Litton Das, and, later, Mushfiqur Rahim batted well. Towhid Hridoy also tried, but they were handed a big defeat."
While Topley picked up a four-wicket haul, Woakes registered figures of 2-49 in eight overs. Litton Das (76), Mushfiqur Rahim (51) and Towhid Hridoy (39) played fighting knocks for Bangladesh but couldn't help their side avoid a massive defeat.