Dharamsala, Oct 10: Defending champions England flexed their muscles to crush Bangladesh by 137 runs and record their first win in the World Cup with Dawid Malan smashing a 107-ball 140, here on Tuesday.
After posting a formidable 364 for nine, Reece Topley (4/43) ran through Bangladesh’s top order as they could muster only 227 in 48.1 overs, with Litton Das (76) and Mushfiqur Rahim (51) standing out in a largely disappointing batting show.
England’s batting stars Malan, Jonny Bairstow (52) and Joe Root (82) contributing significantly in the first half of the contest to take their team to a mammoth total.
It was a game of contrasting halves, where England’s mighty batting power served a reminder to its 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, losing five wickets.
Bangladesh could never recover after Topley struck thrice at the start of their chase, which derailed the Asian 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 fight-back or taking the attack to the opposition even as the run-rate surged.
Earlier, Malan continued his dream run in ODIs with a disdainful hundred against a hapless Bangladesh, propelling England to a commanding 364 for nine.
After a subdued batting show against New Zealand in the opening match, Malan’s 107-ball 140 became the cornerstone of England’s sizeable total after Bangladesh elected to bowl.
Bangladesh bowlers could not repeat their impressive showing against Afghanistan in the previous game.
Malan added 115 for the opening wicket with Jonny Bairstow (52 off 59 balls) and another 151 in just 19.3 overs with Joe Root (82 off 68 balls) to set up the big total.
Bangladesh bowlers did make some sort of a comeback during the back-end of the innings as England, in a mini-slump, lost seven wickets for 68 runs, which prevented them from touching the 400-run mark. (PTI)
