WC2023 – England’s Dawid Malan Shines in Crushing Win Over Bangladesh
Dharamshala, 10th October 2023 – In a one-sided encounter at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, the tournament favourites, England, registered a resounding victory over Bangladesh by a staggering 137-run margin in the 7th fixture of the ICC Cricket ODI World Cup.
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field, setting the stage for an action-packed encounter. England’s openers set the tone for their innings, with Johnny Bairstow scoring a steady 52 off 59 balls before Shakib Al Hasan dismissed him. The second opener, Dawid Malan, delivered a brilliant performance, notching up an impressive 140 runs from 107 balls, but his innings came to an end when Mahedi Hasan removed him from the crease.
Joe Root added to England’s total with a valuable contribution of 82 runs from 68 balls before Mushfiqur Rahim took his wicket with a delivery from Shoriful Islam. Jos Buttler, the captain, and Harry Brook and Sam Curran made smaller contributions to take England to a formidable total of 364/9 in their allotted 50 overs.
On the bowling front for Bangladesh, Mahedi Hasan emerged as the star performer, securing four crucial wickets in his eight overs, though he proved to be expensive, conceding 71 runs at an economy rate of 8.88. Shoriful Islam managed to take three wickets, but like Mahedi Hasan, he was costly. Taskin Ahmed and Shakib Al Hasan, the captain, chipped in with one wicket each.
Chasing a challenging target of 365 runs, Bangladesh were promised a promising start with opener Liton Das scoring a brisk 76 off 66 balls. However, Jos Buttler’s dismissal of Das on a delivery bowled by Chris Woakes halted Bangladesh’s progress. The rest of Bangladesh’s top-order batsmen, including Tanzid Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, and Captain Shakib Al Hasan, struggled to make an impact.
Mushfiqur Rahim was the only saving grace for Bangladesh, managing to score 51 runs off 64 balls before being caught by Adil Rashid on a delivery from Reece Topley. Towhid Hridoy contributed with 39 runs from 61 balls, but England’s Liam Livingstone removed him.
Despite some minor contributions from Bangladesh’s lower-order batsmen, the total proved insurmountable, and they were eventually bowled out for 227 runs. England secured a commanding victory, winning the match by a margin of 137 runs.
As the dust settled on this encounter, cricket enthusiasts eagerly turned their attention to another thrilling match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, taking place at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
