By Karan Agrawal 
India started their Champions Trophy campaign on a winning note as the Rohit Sharma-led side defeated Bangladesh by six wickets in their tournament opener courtesy of match-winning performances from Mohammed Shami and Shubman Gill, who took a fifer and scored an unbeaten century on their Champions Trophy debuts respectively. Bowling first after losing the toss, India got off to a good start as the pace bowling duo of Mohammed Shami and Harshit Rana struck in their first overs to reduce Bangladesh to 2/2, which later became 35/5. The situation could have been a lot worse for Bangladesh had Rohit Sharma held onto Jaker Ali’s catch to give Axar a memorable hattrick.
The Performance
The dropped catch proved to be the turning point of the match as Bangladesh posted a respectable total of 228 runs courtesy of a 154-run partnership between Jaker Ali and Towhid Hridoy, with them scoring a half-century and century, respectively. Despite a herculean effort from the two Bangladesh batters, the score proved insufficient for the Indian batting lineup as the men in blue registered a comfortable win to kick off their Champions Trophy campaign.
The Praise
One of the major talking points before India’s opening clash against Bangladesh was who would share the new ball with Shami will it be Harshit Rana who impressed everyone in his debut series against England, or will Arshdeep get the nod ahead of Harshit because of him being a left armer? The captain and team management decided to go with Harshit Rana, and he repaid the captain’s faith by picking three wickets on his Champions Trophy debut. Talking about the contribution of senior players like Jasprit Bumrah in guiding him as a youngster, Harshit said, “Working with Jassi bhai benefits a lot because he has a lot of experience. He tells how to bowl in which format. I picked consistency from him.”
The Clash
When asked about the role of bowling coach Morne Morkel in developing him as a bowler, Harshid said, “I have learned a lot of things from him. He has worked a lot on my line and length.” Harshit Rana is expected to play in his first India- Pakistan encounter when the Rohit Sharma-led side locks horns with their arch-rivals on Sunday, February 23, in Dubai. Talking about the high-pressure clash, Harshit said that the team will take the game against Pakistan as any other match. In the words of Harshit Rana, “When you play for India, there is always pressure. We will take it as a normal game.”