India began their Champions Trophy campaign with a commanding win over Bangladesh in Dubai on Thursday, setting the tone for their pursuit of another International Cricket Council (ICC) title.
Mohammed Shami marked his first match-winning performance since returning to international cricket after a year-long recovery following his ankle surgery, as the veteran right-arm pacer took five wickets (5 for 53), while Shubman Gill’s unbeaten century (101 not out) guided India to a comfortable six-wicket victory, pursuing Bangladesh’s modest total of 228 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
En route, the Indian team’s performance led to a number of individual milestones.
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After opting to bat, Bangladesh slipped to 35 for 5 before a 154-run stand between Towhid Hridoy (100) and Jakeri Ali (68) revived the innings, which ended at a respectable 228.
Shami’s effort made him India’s most successful bowler in 50-over ICC events with 60 wickets, going past Zaheer Khan’s 59 scalps. While Zaheer took 32 innings to achieve the feat, Shami did it in a mere 19 innings.
Shami’s total tally of 72 wickets in all ICC tournaments is also a record for an Indian bowler. Besides that, he became the fastest to 200 ODI wickets by balls (5126).
It was the sixth five-wicket haul for Shami in ODIs, which is the most by an Indian bowler. Five of those five-fors have come in ICC events, which is also a record.
Also, Virat Kohli took his 156th catch, which is now the highest by an Indian fielder in ODIs.
India’s chase began with a 69-run stand between captain Rohit Sharma and Gill, which saw Rohit scoring 41 and becoming the second fastest to 11,000 runs in ODIs, taking 261 innings compared to the 222 Kohli took to reach the landmark. Sachin Tendulkar is third in that list, having taken 276 innings to complete 11,000 runs in 50-over internationals.
Gill’s century also made him the fastest to score 8 ODI hundreds, taking just 51 innings, which is 60 innings less than Sachin Tendulkar. Gill broke former opener Shikhar Dhawan’s record of 8 hundreds in his first 57 ODI innings.
It was also Gill’s 14th international century since 2022, which is the most by any batter in international cricket.
