The first T20I of the 3-match series between India and Bangladesh got underway at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, despite concern about pollution and poor air quality in the city and around the ground. The match is a special one given that it is the 1000th match in the T20 international format.
Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bowl first. The match saw two debutants in Mohammad Naim from Bangladesh and Shivam Dube from India. The Indian team started a bit well, but Rohit fell LBW to Shaiful Islam for 9, while KL Rahul made 15 good looking runs before handing an easy catch to Mahmudullah off Aminul Islam. Iyer (22) and Dhawan (41) added 34 runs before Iyer fell to Islam and Dhawan got run out going for a non-existent second run.
In the end, wickets fell quickly as batsmen went for runs, as debutant Dube fell caught and bowled to Afif Hossain for 1. Only some late blows from Washington Sundar (14* off 5 balls) and Krunal Pandya (15* off 8 balls) took the final score to 148/6. Shaiful Islam (2/36) and Aminul Islam (2/22) were the best Bangladeshi bowlers.
Shikhar Dhawan's slow innings with a strike rate of under 100 with 3 fours and 1 six became fodder Twitterverse and the Indian team fans trolled him hard and questioned his place in the team.
Here are some tweets:
