Kolkata: Hosts England couldn’t have asked for a better start to their Champions Trophy campaign after they comfortably went past Bangladesh by eight wickets in opening match of the tournament.
Winning the toss, Morgan opted to bowl first. The Bangladeshi openers got off to a good but slow start as they scored 56 in 12 overs when they lost Soumya Sarkar for 28. But the man at the other end- Tamim Iqbal had other plans in mind as he hit 12 fours and three sixes en route to a scintillating 128 of 142 balls. Wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim too played a good innings of 79 runs to help Bangladesh post a total of 305/6.
In reply, England lost opener Jason Roy (1) very early in the chase when the score was just six. But Alex Hales (95) along with new Test skipper Joe Root stitched a 159 run stand to help England dictate proceedings in the game before captain Eoin Morgan’s 75 helped England reach the target with 16 balls to spare.
Root’s innings of 133 which was studded with 11 fours and just a solitary six was simply a delight to watch for the crowd.
However one of the big low points in the match was Chris Woakes suffering from a side strain. The right arm fast bowler bowled just two overs conceding four runs and now left the field following the injury. Speculations suggest that he might have to sit out of the tournament.
Brief scores
Bangladesh 305/6 (Tamim Iqbal 128, Mushfiqur Rahim 79; Liam Plunkett 4/59) lost to England 308/2 in 47.2 overs (Joe Root 133*, Alex Hales 95; Sabbir Rahman 1/13) by 8 wickets.