Tamim Iqbal leads Bangladesh against England in the opener of the Champions Trophy
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LONDON: Bangladesh took on England in the first match of the Champions Trophy 2017 being played here in England.
Tamim Iqbal drove Bangladesh past 300 with a sure-footed century which saw the hosts struggling to get early wickets in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 opener at The Oval on Thursday.
England were handed their first breakthrough by all-rounder Ben Stokes who broke Bangladesh's opening stand at 56-1 with Soumya Sarkar's wicket.
Liam Plunkett claimed Imrul Kayes' wicket next, reducing Bangladesh to 95-2.
But the tourists were stabilised by some power-hitting from Tamim, who was helped along by wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim.
Bangladesh started off cautiously against the hosts' bowling attack, after England won the toss and asked Mashrafe Mortaza's side to bat first.
Sarkar was given a new life earlier when Moeen Ali dropped a sitter off Jake Ball's delivery.
Imrul Kayes was sent back to the pavilion after he played a loose shot on the delivery of Plunkett. He gave an easy catch to Mark Woods.
Soon after Kayes wicket, a more than 100-run partnership was built by Tamim Iqbal and Mushfqur Rahim. Iqbal played a marvellous knock of 128 runs off 142 balls, while Rahim assisted him with his timely inning of 79 runs off 72 balls.
However both the batsmen fell in succession in the 44th over giving Liam Plunkett a hat-trick chance.
Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman played their cameo innings of 10 and 24 runs respectively.
England have been transformed since their dismal World Cup performance two years ago, with their power batting making them even more formidable in their own conditions.
But a determined Bangladesh, after an absence of more than 10 years, have made a welcome return to the Champions Trophy ranked sixth, above both Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Both teams feature several survivors from Bangladesh´s 15-run shock win at Adelaide which condemned England to a woeful first-round exit from the last World Cup.
It was a result that led England to completely revamp their approach to the white-ball game.