India Trounce Bangladesh by 8 Wkts; Win Record 6th Asia Cup Title

MS Dhoni smashed 20 off 6 deliveries at the end to help India win the final.

A lot of rain, some Mahmudullah resistance and one early wicket were just a few of the scares served to the Indian cricket fan on Sunday, before they could celebrate the team’s Asia Cup victory.

Helped along by Shikhar Dhawan’s 44- ball-60 in a 15-overs a side match, India won the final by 8 wickets to bag the title for a record sixth time. Sri Lanka have won the continental title five times and Pakistan twice.

Bangladesh’s Innings

Indian bowlers lost their way in the final overs after an impressive start as Bangladesh rode on Mahmudullah’s fiery 13-ball 33 to post a competitive 120 for five after being put into bat.

The turning point was the 13th over by Nehra (1/33) and more importantly the 14th over bowled by Hardik Pandya (1/35). 14 came off Nehra’s over while Pandya was taken for 21 in the penultimate over with Mahmudullah hitting him for a boundary and two huge sixes.

Jasprit Bumrah (1/13) was exceptional at the death while Ravichandran Ashwin (1/14) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/25) also bowled accurately. But Mahmudullah s slam-bang approach fetched the hosts 42 runs in the last three overs.

India’s Chase

Chasing a target of 121, India lost Rohit Sharma early when Al Amin struck in the second over as his delivery moved a shade as Rohit tried to slash it. Soumya Sarkar at first slip made no mistake.

As his skipper wanted from his openers in the earlier matches, Dhawan initially tried to play himself in with India taking four overs to post 19 on the board. Things however changed from the fifth over, bowled by left-arrm seamer Abu Hider, playing his first match of the tournament.

With Mushfiqur Rahim standing up due to his lack of pace and short third-man stationed, Dhawan played late to collect two boundaries while Kohli was lucky when his lofted drive went beyond mid-off s reach as he was standing up. In all, 14 runs came off that over.

With Powerplay overs ending, Mashrafe Mortaza got Shakib Al Hasan into action and the Dhawan-Kohli duo took 15 runs off that over. Kohli pulled one while Dhawan played a late cut and an imperious pull-shot as India were well on course in their pursuit of the total.

The stand-out shot for Dhawan was a slog-sweep off Mortaza that was hit into the deep square leg stand.

After 10 overs, India were 71 for 1 and the match virtually ended in Shakib s next over when Dhawan hit a conventional and a reverse sweep to dash Bangladesh s hopes. Dhawan’s 50 came off 35 balls. He was finally out caught at point by a diving Soumya Sarkar off Taskin Ahmed.

In the last two overs, India required 19 runs. If the partisan 25,000 supporters harboured any hopes of a comeback, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (20 not out in 6 balls) dashed it with a lethal six over deep mid-wicket off Al-Amin and another terrific blow over deep extra cover before finishing the match with another six.

(With inputs from PTI)