Bangladesh suffer heavy defeat against India in T20 opener

|| CF DESK ||

Bangladesh suffered a heavy defeat against India as the hosts sealed a seven-wicket victory in the first of the three T20 internationals on Sunday.

Arshdeep Singh and returning Varun Chakravarthy took three wickets each as India bowled out Bangladesh for 127.

Left-arm quick Arshdeep backed skipper Suryakumar Yadav's decision to field first as he removed the openers including Litton Das, for four, inside three overs in Gwalior.

Litton top-edged an angling delivery from Arshdeep to be caught at short cover and soon the left-handed Parvez Hossain Emon inside-edged the ball onto his stumps.

Debutant quick Mayank Yadav -- an IPL pace sensation who made heads turn with deliveries of more than 150 kilometres (93 miles) per hour, started with a maiden over and then struck in his second to send back Mahmudullah Riyad out for one.

Wickets kept falling and Chakravarthy, who has returned to the team after the 2021 T20 World Cup, struck regular blows with his mystery spin to rattle the opposition middle-order.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz fought hard with an unbeaten 35 but found little support and Arshdeep ended the innings in 19.5 overs.

India's chase got off to a flying start, with openers Sanju Samson and debutant Abhishek Sharma taking 10 runs off Shariful Islam’s first over and adding another 15 from Taskin Ahmed’s over, pushing India to 25 after just two overs.

However, India faced an early blow when Abhishek was run out for 16 off 7 balls after hitting 2 fours and 1 six.

Captain Suryakumar Yadav came in at number three and dazzled with a quickfire 29 off 14 balls, including 2 fours and 3 sixes, before he was caught at deep square leg off Mustafizur Rahman.

By the end of the powerplay, India had reached 71 for 2. Samson, who had opened, contributed 29 from 19 balls, hitting 6 boundaries before getting out.

Hardik Pandya and Nitish Kumar Reddy then took control, guiding India to victory with an unbeaten 52-run stand from 24 balls.

Pandya was in devastating form, smashing 39* off 16 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes, while Nitish remained 16* from 15 balls.

Mustafizur and Miraz each took a wicket, while Taskin Ahmed had a tough outing, conceding 44 runs in 2.5 overs. Mustafizur’s economy rate was 12.