Defending champions England flexed their muscles to crush Bangladesh by 137 runs and record their first win in the 2023 World Cup with Dawid Malan smashing a 107-ball 140 here on Tuesday.
After posting a formidable 364 for nine, their best score in an overseas World Cup, pacer Reece Topley (4/43) ran through Bangladesh’s top-order as they could muster only 227 in 48.1 overs. Only Litton Das (76) and Mushfiqur Rahim (51) managed to put up a resistance in a largely disappointing batting show.
Malan, Jonny Bairstow (52) and Joe Root (82) contributed significantly in the first half of the contest to take their team to a mammoth total. In all, England hit 41 fours and seven sixes. They had lost their tournament opener to New Zealand in Ahmedabad.
“A really good performance, we stuck to our guns. It was really important for us after a bad performance in the opener. The back end I think we should have scored a
few more, we could have done well with some partnerships at the back end,” skipper Jos Buttler said.
“It will always be tough to chase 365. We planned well, but we couldn’t execute. Once they got the momentum, it was tough to contain them,” Bangladesh captain Shakib-al-Hasan reasoned.
It was a game of contrasting halves, where England’s mighty batting power served a reminder to their rivals in the first half, while in the second, Bangladesh wilted after taking some early blows and could muster a mere 67 runs in the last 18.1 overs.
Bangladesh could never recover after Topley struck thrice at the start of their chase, which derailed the Shakib-led side and forced them into a damage-control mode.
For the remainder of the innings, Bangladesh’s approach was conservative, lacking any signs of a fightback.
Tanzid Hasan (1) played an ordinary shot to be caught at slip off Topley, while Najmul Hossain Shanto fared no better. Topley then bamboozled Shakib to virtually end Bangladesh’s hopes.
