India Survives Nervy Moments To Win Their 7th Asia Cup Title

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After almost two weeks of action-packed entertainment, the final hurdle came down to the last ball to decide the winner of the Asia Cup 2018. India who remained unbeaten throughout the tournament held their nerve and breeze past Bangladesh's challenge to win their 7th Asia Cup title after beating them by 3 wickets on Friday, 28 September at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai.

On the other hand, Bangladesh would be thinking that they missed out the biggest opportunity to win the Asia Cup. They were 120 for 0 at one stage after Rohit Sharma asked them to bat first. They had a chance to score big but India came back strong to bowled out Bangladesh on 222 in 48.3 overs and later on a collective batting display helped them to win the title on the last ball.



In the all-important clash, riding on Liton Das' maiden ton Bangladesh got off to a flier. Both Das and Mehidy Hasan added 120 off 125 balls before Hasan caught out off Kedar Jadhav after scoring 32 off 59 balls. The wicket of Hasan proved to be a blessing in disguise as both the openers were taking the game away from India.

Once the first wicket down it was a matter of time for spinners to run through Bangladesh's middle order. In the middle of falling wickets, Liton Das completed his maiden century off just 87 balls. India kept things tight in the middle overs and conceded only 58 runs between 20 and 40 overs. The pressure of dot balls continuously increasing on Bangladesh and that resulted, they kept losing wickets at the regular intervals.

Liton Das after scoring well made 121 off 117 balls, couldn't read the googly of Kuldeep Yadav and get stumped out by MS Dhoni. Soumya Sarkar tried to take Bangladesh to a respectable total but in trying to take the second run he got run out after scoring 33 off 45 balls. They could not even play 50 overs and bowled out on 222 in 48.3 overs.



India bowled exceedingly well especially in the middle overs. Kuldeep Yadav (3 for 45) and Kedar Jadhav (2 for 41) were the standout bowlers. Yuzvendra Chahal and Jasprit Bumrah also chipped in with a wicket each.

Though the target looked easy they have been made to work for it. India off to a flying start as tournament's leading run-getter Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma added 35 off 38 balls for the opening stand. However, Dhawan could not build his innings and catch out to Nazmul Islam after scoring 15 off 14 balls. Ambati Rayudu also could not carry his form from the previous match and caught behind by Mushfiqur Rahim off Mashrafe Mortaza. He made only 2 off 7 balls.

Skipper Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik were trying to build a partnership and in this process, Rohit was dismissed by Rubel Hossain after well made 48 off 55 balls. When Rohit dismissed, India's score was 83 for 3 in 16.4 overs. Karthik (37 off 61) and Dhoni (36 off 67 balls) put on a 54 run stand for the 4th wicket and brought back India into the game. When things were looking good for India, Mahmudullah deceived Karthik with a flighted delivery.



Bangladesh like India bowled with a tight line a length and kept India in bey all the time. Things became vulnerable to India when Mustafizur Rahman dismissed Dhoni at the score of 160. Kedar Jadhav also suffering from a hamstring injury and eventually got retired hurt. He came back later in the innings and won the match for India on the last ball but before that, Ravindra Jadeja (23 off 33 balls) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (21 off 31 balls) played sensibly and took their team as deep as possible. Although they could not finish the game they played a valuable knock for their team.

Bangladesh bowled superb throughout the innings. Rubel Hossain was the standout bowler for them with the figures of 10-2-26-2. Skipper Mortaza (1 for 35) and Mustafizur (2 for 38) also bowled well and kept the pressure on Indian batting line up.

Liton Das awarded Man Of The Match for his brilliant knock while Shikhar Dhawan received Man Of The Tournament for scoring 342 runs with an average of 68.40 in 5 innings. He had scored two centuries in this Asia Cup and played a vital role in India's 7th title triumph.

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