Brief Scores: Bangladesh 305/6 (Tamim Iqbal 128, Mushfiqur Rahim 79; Liam Plunkett 4/59, Ben Stokes 1/42) lost to England 308/2 (Joe Root 133*, Alex Hales 95; Mashrafe Mortaza 1/56, Sabbir Rahman 1/13) by 8 wickets.

Morgan’s pitch reading skills appeared to be spot on as Chris Woakes opened the bowling with a maiden over and Mark Wood replicated the same in the fourth as the visitors could only manage six runs in the first four overs. Soumya Sarkar released some pressure by hitting Jake Ball for two back-to-back boundaries in the fifth over but that was as good as it got for the Asian team as they could only manage 36 runs in the first powerplay. Having seen out the new ball without losing any wicket, Bangladesh, and Sarkar in particular, took the attack to the Englishmen scoring 16 runs off Ball’s fourth over. On the other hand, Iqbal also settled himself on the crease to set the base for a good total. Sensing the need for a wicket, Morgan brought Ben Stokes into the attack and the all-rounder rewarded his captain dismissing Sarkar in the same over. After having adjusted to the pace of the wicket, Iqbal cleared the fence at will and even went over it, much to the dismay of home fans. That helped Bangladesh to consolidate their position and even though Imrul Kayes threw his wicket away in the twentieth over after miscuing a shot to mid-on, the visitors found themselves at 125/2, with Mushfiqur Rahim partnering Iqbal at the crease.

Iqbal was looking in complete control as he smashed Plunkett for two consecutive boundaries on either side of the wicket and by the 30th over Bangladesh had crossed the 150-run mark. Having been dismantled by India in the warm-up game, the sub-continental side had learned from their mistakes and decided to to take too many risks as they kept rotating the strike well while putting the bad balls away to the boundaries as well. In the next ten overs, Rahim went past his fifty while Iqbal became the first player to score a century in the current edition of the tournament, taking the score to 223/2 with 10 overs to play. With 300 looking well within reach, Iqbal decided to up the ante as he put the ball in the stands twice in two overs before Rahim scored two boundaries in the next over. But England showed their winning credentials with Plunkett dismissing the duo on back-to-back balls to put the pressure right back on the Bangladesh team. Shakib Al Hasan’s eight-ball cameo was brought to an end by Ball before Plunkett claimed his fourth of the match in the last over to restrict Bangladesh to 305/6 in the allotted 50 overs.

Hales and Root put England in the driver’s seat

Morgan and Root secure comfortable win for hosts

While most players tend to slow down while closing in on a century, Hales did the exact opposite. Playing at 85, the English opener decided to open his shoulders and pulled Sabbir Rahman for a boundary before launching the ball into the stands on the next delivery. However, it proved to be his undoing as a slog sweep could only get as far as Sunzamul Islam at deep midwicket to bring the curtains down on a fantastic 86-ball 95. As England’s captain walked out to the crease, he knew that most of the job was already done and he along with Joe Root scored 54 runs in between the 30th and the 40th over to keep the required run rate at a comfortable 7.5, on a pitch that was proving to be a batsman’s paradise. Eight overs to go, England found themselves needing 60 off 48 balls with both Root and Morgan two runs short of a century and half century respectively. Not only did both reach their respective milestones in the 43rd over, but the 12 runs in the over ensured the match equation came down to 48 off 42 balls. The next three overs yielded 33 runs that brought the required run rate down to just 4 runs an over. Root finished off the game in style with back-to-back boundaries in the 48th over to secure an eight wicket win for last edition’s runners-up.