England storm back into the tournament as they beat Bangladesh by 137 runs

The victory margin was a consolation for England, whose standing and confidence had suffered after their crushing defeat in Ahmedabad. However, England responded forcefully to their loss in their opening World Cup game by thrashing Bangladesh by 137 runs in Dharamsala to start their tournament.

Sri Lanka had won the toss and decided to bat first. A clockwork-smooth partnership of 151 runs in 19.3 overs between Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root gave England a strong platform going into the later stages. However, they faltered against Bangladesh’s death-bowling skills at that point, losing wickets regularly thanks to Shoriful Islam and Mahedi Hasan.

Malan, who has gone from being a backup to being the first pick in a short of months, is the best at the current XI when it comes to cold-blooded certainty. 

He hit his complete arsenal of pulls, flicks, and slog-sweeps during his 107-ball stay, which was a masterclass in acceleration, beginning with the fourth ball from Mustafizur Rahman, which he stroked through extra cover for four.

Bangladesh believed he should have been thrown out for being caught behind in single digits, but DRS later confirmed Ahsan Raza’s on-field call when a Mustafizur bouncer flicked his shoulder on the way through. 

As England’s tempo picked up, Mustafizur was pulled into the crowd at deep midwicket and flipped down the ground in another crisp one-two, leaving Bangladesh well-placed on 61 for 0 after ten overs. 

That was as close as Bangladesh came to taking a wicket in the opening powerplay. Malan responded by driving for four and then swinging his first six over deep backward square.

Bairstow was able to play a little more cautiously as Malan moved to a 39-ball fifty, with 40 of his runs coming in boundaries. Nevertheless, he scored his first 50 in an ODI since July 2022 to celebrate his 100th appearance before Shakib Al Hasan shook his leg stump to give Bangladesh a much-needed breakthrough. 

However, there was no relief because Shakib was the only bowler to exert any sort of control. A five-over spell without a boundary was immediately broken by Root, who ramped Mustafizur for six over fine leg and then reverse-paddled Shakib for four to halt the run-spell. 

At the other end, Malan continued in his pursuit of three figures, reaching the milestone with a push through the covers from Shakib for the sixth time in 23 ODI appearances. By doing so, he set a World Cup record for the oldest Englishman to score a 100.

In the next over, Malan destroyed Mehidy Hasan Miraz for a series of 4, 6, 6, 4, and Root then scored his second successive fifty of the competition from 44 balls as England attempted to turn the tide. 

Before another pull, this time off Taskin Ahmed, gave Malan his fifth six, Root passed Graham Gooch as his country’s leading run-scorer in World Cups. However, when Mahedi was rewarded for tossing the ball up, all hopes that he may break Andrew Strauss’ 158-ball century from Bengaluru were dashed.

It appeared as though England would register the second 400-plus score of the tournament as they cruised through the middle powerplay, scoring at 7.9 runs per over. Malan’s dismissal only served to bring Buttler to the crease, in the mood for mayhem. 

The captain struggled to find his rhythm during a hectic 20 off 10, but his dismissal to Shoriful in the 40th over after dragging a wide knuckleball onto his stumps laid the stage for a belated Bangladeshi comeback with the ball.

Shoriful’s variations worked for Liam Livingstone, who lost his off stump to a cutter, and Root, who was caught behind heaving at another knuckleball. Harry Brook, Sam Curran, and Adil Rashid were all bowled by Mahedi as an otherwise strong innings came to a poor finish.

But despite England’s collapse, which saw them go down for 7 for 68 in the final 10.3 overs, Bangladesh was still left with an asking rate of more than seven per over and a target that was far higher than their greatest score while batting second in ODIs. 

As Chris Woakes recovered from a costly start, the challenge quickly grew steeper still as Topley struck with his fourth, fifth, and sixteenth deliveries, leaving Bangladesh shaky at 26 for 3.

While both Litton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim scored half-centuries, their partnership of 72 runs at almost a run a ball was only able to give the scorecard some respectability. Litton Das started the chase by hitting Woakes for three straight fours. 

When Mushfiqur drove a Topley bouncer to deep third, Woakes ruined Litton’s hopes of scoring a century, and Bangladesh’s innings turned into an effort to limit the harm to the net run rate.

The victory margin was a consolation for England, whose standing and confidence had suffered after their crushing defeat in Ahmedabad. 

However, England responded forcefully to their loss in their opening World Cup game by thrashing Bangladesh by 137 runs in Dharamsala to start their tournament.

Jos Buttler, the England Captain:

“Really good performance, we stuck to our guns. There are areas to improve as well. Back end of the innings, we should have got a bit more. It went harder as it went on. That is one area we can improve. Bairstow, Malan, and Root were brilliant. Always trying to look for that perfect performance. It might just be the other way around. It can be one of the challenges, reading the pitch, reading the conditions. We have to go with a different balance of swing and seam. The early wickets in the powerplay were fantastic.”

Shakib-Al-Hasan, the Bangladesh Captain:

“Was a good toss to win, was colder weather then. There was some rain last night. We did not start well, the first ten overs especially. When you give them a sniff they always come hard at us. We came back strongly. But it was a little too late. When you lose four early wickets in ten overs, you are not going to get 350. We had a very good plan, but we couldn’t execute it. We were here and there. First five six overs the ball l was swinging nicely. That’s when the momentum went to the England side. We restricted them. Here 320-330 you fancy your chances which we couldn’t get. Long tournament. We have to move on and we have some tough matches coming up. We cannot be bogged down. We have to move on and think about all the positives we have been doing.”

Dawid Malan: “It is nice to contribute. Been a long journey to get to this stage. To get in here is fantastic and to put in a performance and win a game is great. [Struggles against spin] I think sometimes people create a narrative that isn’t there to justify their writing or views. Sometimes I play a good shot, sometimes I play a bad host. We don’t have to second guess ourselves. I am not here to prove a point or prove to people.”