Ravindra Jadeja made a roaring return to limited overs cricket with a four-wicket haul, helping India dismiss Bangladesh for 173 in a Super Four match of the Asia Cup in Dubai on Friday.
The all-rounder, playing his first ODI since July 2017, broke the backbone of Bangladesh batting with his accurate left-arm spin and ended with impressive figures of four for 29 in 10 overs.
Bangladesh batsmen faltered again, having come to a cropper in the run chase against Afghanistan on Thursday night. The seasoned pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/32) and Jasprit Bumrah (3/37) too made life tough for the opposition. The saving grace for Bangladesh was the 66-run stand for the eighth wicket between Mehidy Hasan Miraz (42 off 50) and captain Mashrafe Mortaza (26 off 32) before the team was all out in 49.1 overs.
Bangladesh, who lost to Afghanistan less than 24 hours ago and had to take the 90-minute journey from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, paid the price for reckless batting.
They lost their openers Liton Das (7) and Nazmul Hossain Shanto (7) by the sixth over.
From 15 for two, the experienced pairing of Shakib Al Hasan (21) and Mushfuqir Rahim had a task of rebuilding the innings but the former fell to a loose shot off Jadeja. The star Bangladesh all-rounder, having hit Jadeja for two boundaries in the 10th over, went for another one but his sweep went straight into the hands of Shikhar Dhawan at square leg.
Jadeja, who was playing Vijay Hazare Trophy in Delhi but got a last-minute call-up to join the national team here in the wake of injuries to Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur, grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
He removed Mohammad Mithun in typical fashion for his second wicket, darting the ball into the middle stump to trap him in front of the stumps, reducing Bangladesh to 60 for four in the 16th over. In his next over, the wily spinner sent back Rahim, leaving Bangladesh in deep trouble.
Mahmudullah (25) and Mossadek Hossain (12) batted sensibly, sharing a 36-run stand for the sixth wicket. They could have added a lot more if Mahmudullah had not got a rough call from the umpire in the 33rd over. He was adjudged leg before wicket off Bhuvneshwar but replays showed he got bat on ball before it hit his pads. Bangladesh could not review the questionable call as they had already used up their review.
Much to their relief, Mortaza and Miraz stitched a much needed partnership to give their bowlers something to bowl at.
Mortaza, who is well past his prime, and Miraz entertained the crowd with some clean hitting. The skipper smashed two straight sixes off Bhuvneshwar in the 47th over before getting caught at short fine leg.
