2017 ICC Champions Trophy: Twitter Reacts As England Begin Tournament With Thumping Win Over Bangladesh 1

Tamim Iqbal’s century went in vain as Joe Root’s unbeaten knock of 133 runs helped England to open their ICC Champions Trophy campaign with an impressive win over Bangladesh at The Oval on Thursday (June 1).

Chasing 305, the home side was put on the path to victory courtesy of a brilliant 159 runs partnership between Alex Hales and Joe Root before the former missed out on a well-deserved century by just 5 runs. After Jason Roy fell for just 1, the duo batted sensibly to help their take team take command of the proceedings. Hales was making sure that England remains in the hunt to chase down the big total by hitting occasional boundaries while Root looked more than happy to play the second fiddle. The partnership finally came to an end when Hales was dismissed by Mustafizur Rahman for 95.

However, Root did not commit the same mistake as Hales and scored his tenth ODI century to guide England to victory with over two overs remaining. He shared an unbeaten partnership of 143 runs with skipper Eoin Morgan (75) as the Three Lions proved their title credentials with a convincing win.

Earlier, Tamim Iqbal continued his fine form with the bat, scoring a magnificent ton to power Bangladesh to 305 for 6 in the allotted overs. The left-handed batsman and his opening partner Soumya Sarkar added 56 for the first wicket before the latter was caught by substitute fielder Jonny Bairstow off Ben Stokes for 28. Imrul Kayes could not contribute much, departing for 19 after being brilliantly caught by a diving Mark Wood at mid on but Tamim and Mushfiqur Rahim set the platform for a huge score by adding 166 runs for the third wicket.

With English bowlers bowling a disciplined line, both the batsmen looked content to rotate the strike but began unleashing the big shots once the partnership went past the 100-run mark. Rahim was the more adventurous of the two, playing big shots on a consistent basis to reach his fifty in only 48 balls. Tamim also got into his groove as the game progressed and completed his fifty off 124 balls in the 39th over.

With 259 runs on the board and eight wickets still in hand, Bangladesh had the opportunity to finish on a strong note. However, their hopes of doing the same evaporated when Rahim and Tamim were dismissed by Liam Plunkett in consecutive deliveries. Tamim was out for 128 while Rahim returned after scoring 79.  Sabbir Rahman then managed a quickfire 24 off 14, but the failure of other batsmen did not allow Bangladesh to end their innings as they would have wanted. The Asian country, nevertheless, managed to post their biggest-ever ODI total in England.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the match:

https://twitter.com/Riz_myth/status/870302788546428932