There was quite a bit of curiosity about how Mayank Yadav would do in his first competitive game — also his debut match for India — in five months. There was also interest in Varun Chakravarthy, who was making a comeback to the Team India set-up after almost three years.

Both did well. Mayank (1/21) worked up a good speed and was quite accurate too on a pitch that seemed two-paced. Coming on to bowl in the last over of the Powerplay of the first T20I against Bangladesh, Mayank began with a maiden before picking up the key wicket of experienced campaigner Mahmudullah.

Chakravarthy (3/31) would be very pleased with his show as his strikes in the middle overs were crucial to India’s seven-wicket win over a disappointing Bangladesh at the Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Stadium in Gwalior on Sunday.

International cricket returned to Gwalior after 14 years, and such an authoritative win for Team India was just what the partisan crowd came for.

Restricting Bangladesh to a meagre total of 127 after winning the toss and opting to bowl first, the task was not at all too difficult for Suryakumar Yadav and his teammates. Skipper Surya, Sanju Samson and his opening partner Abhishek Sharma toyed with the opposition bowlers with their strokeplay. Even though they couldn’t covert their starts, they ensured India were strongly placed by the end of the Powerplay.

When Samson departed off the bowling of Mehidy Hasan Miraz, India needed only 48 more with 73 balls still remaining. Seamer all-rounder Hardik Pandya and debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy comfortably notched up those remaining runs as India strolled to victory with 8.1 overs to spare.

Bangladesh's poor shot selection raised questions about their awareness of the conditions. Barring Miraz (35 not out), the others seemed to lack the wisdom of dealing with the circumstances and the Indian attack.

The Indian bowlers, particularly Arshdeep Singh (3/14) and Chakravarthy, exploited that to put their team in a commanding position right from the onset. Poor shots from openers Litton Das and Parvez Hossain Emon helped left-armer Arshdeep peg back the visitors in the Powerplay.

Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto and Towhid Hridoy resisted for some time. But then, Chakravarthy spoiled Bangladesh's plans again, forcing a mistimed shot from Hridoy, who was earlier dropped on three by Reddy in the spinner’s first over.

Hit for a couple of boundaries and a maximum in his opening over, it was a wonderful bounce back from Chakravarthy who then cleaned up a clueless Jaker Ali before dismissing Rishad Hossain for his second and third wickets.

There was no way Bangladesh could recover from such a position.

Bangladesh

P. Emon b Arshdeep 8

L. Das c Rinku b Arshdeep 4

N. Shanto c&b Sundar 27

T. Hridoy c Hardik b Varun 12

Mahmudullah c Sundar b Mayank 1

J. Ali b Varun 8

M. Miraz not out 3 5

R. Hossain c Hardik b Varun 11

T. Ahmed run out 12

S. Islam b Hardik 0

M. Rahman b Arshdeep 1

Extras (lb-6, w-2) 8

Total (All out, 19.5 overs) 127

Fall of wickets: 1/5, 2/14, 3/40, 4/43, 5/57, 6/75, 7/93, 8/116, 9/117

Bowling: Arshdeep 3.5-0-14-3, Hardik 4-0-26-1, Varun 4-0-31-3, Mayank 4-1-21-1, Reddy 2-0-17-0, Sundar 2-0-12-1

India

S. Samson c Hossain b Miraz 29A. Sharma run out 16S. Yadav c Ali b Rahman 29

N. Reddy not out 16H. Pandya not out 39

Extras (lb-2, w-1) 3Total (3 wickets, 11.5 overs) 132

Fall of wickets: 1/25, 2/65, 3/80

Bowling: Islam 2-0-17-0; Ahmed 2.5-0 -44-0; Rahman 3-0-36-1; Hossain 3-0-26-0; Miraz 1-0-7-1

MoM: Arshdeep Singh