A match-defining century by Dawid Malan and a phenomenal bowling spell by Reece Topley (4/43) helped England announce themselves in style in the ongoing World Cup after an early setback as they defeated Bangladesh by 137 runs at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala on Tuesday, October 10.
Topley broke the back of Bangladesh's batting order as he claimed the important scalps of Tanzid Hasan (1 off 2 balls), Najmul Hossain Shanto (golden duck) and Shakib Al Hasan (1 off nine deliveries) to leave the Bangla Tigers tottering at 26 for three.
The Shakib-led side was gaping at a humongous loss chasing 365 to win but the pair of Litton Das and veteran wicketkeeper batter Mushfiqur Rahim weathered the storm and saved the side from suffering a humiliating loss.
Both batters scored their respective half-centuries and put together a 72-run stand for the fifth wicket. However, their partnership was put to an end by Chris Woakes who got the better of Litton at an individual score of 76.
Topley also came back to claim his fourth wicket as he dismissed a set Rahim on 51 to bring an end to Bamgladesh's hopes of scripting a remarkable turnaround. Bangladesh eventually folded for 227 in 48.2 overs.
Interestingly, the game began with Shakib calling it right at the toss and surprisingly electing to bat first on a wicket that looked a belter and the English opening duo of Jonny Bairstow (52 off 59 deliveries) and Dawid Malan (140 off 107 balls) proved the same with a domineering 115-run partnership up front in just 17.5 overs.
Malan dominated the Bangladesh attack and hit five maximums and 16 boundaries during his knock. He never moved his foot away from the accelerator and aggregated his runs at an impressive strike rate of 130.84. Root supported Malan really well in the middle after Bairstow's wicket and amassed 82 runs off just 68 balls at a stellar strike rate of 120.58.
The Root-Malan partnership never let the Bangladesh players come back into the game and it saw the duo rack up 151 runs for the second wicket. Shakib's team did make a comeback after getting rid of Malan and Root as it limited the Three Lions to just 364 despite the Jos Buttler-led side threatening to score more than 400 in their quota of 50 overs at one stage.
