A brilliant innings from Ishan Kishan, more than ably supported by Virat Kohli, inspired India to a 227-run thrashing of Bangladesh in their third and final ODI in Chittagong.
It did nothing to alter the outcome of the series – victory had already been claimed by Bangladesh after winning by a wicket and then five runs in the two previous matches in Mirpur.
Nevertheless, India can take a lot of encouragement by the way they played, finally adopting a more aggressive approach that some of their supporters had been demanding.
Team news
Ironically Kishan was only playing because of the injury to regular skipper Rohit Sharma and was brought into the side, along with Kuldeep Yadav.
Bangladesh won the toss and chose to field first, but despite capturing the loss of Shikhar Dhawan early – after another failure was that his international swansong – they were soon made to regret that decision by Kishan and Kohli.
The pair put on 290 for the second wicket in just over 30 overs, at 9 an over.
Kishan dominated the partnership, making 210 off 131 balls, including 10 sixes and 24 fours. It was the equal fifth-highest innings in an ODI ever, and the third best by an India, beaten only by Rohit, and Virender Sehwag.
When he was finally dismissed, it was the turn of Kohli to bring up his first century in ODI cricket for more than three years, and his 43rd in all. He would go on to make 113, including 2 sixes and 11 fours of his own.
With Washington Sundar and Axar Patel both chipping in with brief cameo innings of 37 and 20 respectively, India finally posted a massive 409/8 from their 50 overs.
Although none of the Bangladesh bowlers will want to revisit their figures in a hurry, Taskin Ahmed had a particularly torrid time, conceding 89 runs off his 9 overs.
Faced with such an imposing total, Bangladesh were never really in the match, and, in trying to match the Indian run rate, took risks and lost wickets as a result.
Shakib Al Hasan top scored for them with 43, but Mehedi Hasan was unable to reproduce his heroics of the first two matches, and was out for just three.
In the end, the home side were bowled out for just 182, with 16 overs still to be bowled.
Shardul Thakur took 3 – 30, and there were two wickets each from Axar Patel and Umran Malik, as India won by 227 runs.
Key talking points
Kishan’s brilliant day
Kishan set a number of records during his innings, including the fastest double ton in ODI history, beating the previous best by Chris Gayle by 12 balls.
He also became the first international batter to convert his maiden ODI hundred into a double century.
Previously he had flattered to deceive playing for India, and had struggled to replicate his Indian T20 franchise form for his country.
This innings, though, should give him immense confidence, and he must now be pencilled in at the very least for the World Cup squad last year.
Aggression pays off
An argument often levelled at India in recent years is that they have been too risk averse at the start of their innings in all formats of the game, and that they were being left behind by countries such as England in their approach.
Kishan, though, showed that it is possible for an Indian side to play fast, aggressive cricket and it is to be encouraged. It also takes the pressure off the bowlers, because they can afford to attack as well, without having to worry about defending small totals.
The question, though was this a one-off or indicative of a new strategy?
Bangladesh well-beaten
Bangladesh were well beaten on the day and can have few complaints about the result. However, if they had been offered the choice between taking the series with one heavy defeat thrown in for good measure, they would have happily taken it
What happens next
The attention now switches to test cricket, with the first match between the two sides beginning on Thursday on this same Chittagong ground. India will be hoping that is a happy omen for them.
●●●
VISIT OUR BLG TO GET YOUR FIX FOR ALL OF THE MOST CURRENT CRICKET NEWS STORIES & FEATURES
