Sports

Shakib skittles India out with a five-fer

Shakib Al Hasan provided a masterclass in slow bowling as India were bowled out for a mere 186 after being put in to bat in the first ODI at Dhaka.

On a pitch that was on the slower side, Shakib ended up with figures of 5 for 36, that included the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in his very first over. Bangladesh's stand-in skipper Litton Das wasted little time in introducing spin on the surface, and it paid early dividends from both ends.

Before Shakib got into the act, offspinner Mehidy Hasan won his battle against Shikhar Dhawan, who attempted a reverse sweep after being tied down for a while and ended up dragging it onto the stumps.

Shakib struck with just his second ball when he had Rohit completely missing an arm ball and bowling him through the gate. In the same over, Shakib also had Kohli beaten in flight and chipping a cover drive in the air, for Litton to complete a stunning diving catch. At 49/3 in the 11th over, India were in desperate need of a partnership.

KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer kickstarted that effort in earnest, but Bangladesh were spot on with their bowling plans. Ebadot Hossain took control of this phase with some well directed short balls against Shreyas. While the duo put on a 43-run stand, Shreyas eventually persihed trying to pull Ebadot and skying one to the wicketkeeper.

Rahul provided some resistance for India and put on 60 in the company of Washington Sundar as he found runs coming in sharp bursts. A six and a four off Mehidy and a couple of cuts against Ebadot helped him to his 11th ODI fifty.

But just as India were beginning their comeback, Bangladesh brought back their talisman and Shakib struck immediately having Washington caught off a reverse sweep. As India lost four wickets for six runs, Shakib was in the action right through. He took a good low catch at cover to get rid of Shabaz Ahmed, before striking twice to send back both Shardul Thakur (beaten on the outside edge) and Deepak Chahar (LBW off an arm ball). With figures of 5/36, he ended up with the best-ever figures for a left-arm spinner against India.

The collapse notwithstanding, Rahul found a burst of boundaries again to push India ahead. But Ebadot had the last laugh, getting him out on the pull for 73 before wrapping India's innings for 186 with another short ball.

Brief Scores: India 186 all out (KL Rahul 73; Shakib AlHasan 5/36, Ebadot Hossain 4/47) vs Bangladesh

Source: Cricbuzz