India Vs Bangladesh || Asia Cup 2018 Final
India Vs Bangladesh || Asia Cup 2018 Finals
A sultry day for the finals was clearly set up for a bright game of cricket between the two nations which considers cricket almost equivalent to a tradition. After winning the toss in the Asia Cup 2018 final, the Indian Captain decided to field first. All players who got rested for the previous game come back to the Indian side. As for Bangladesh side, they had one change in the form of Nazmul Islam who came in replacing Mominul.
In the first half of the play, Bangladesh team started off brilliantly. Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar got belted relentlessly. On one hand, Linton Das was smashing boundaries all across the ground while Mehidy Hassan was playing cautiously by safeguarding the other side by not losing his wicket. After the first 10 overs, Bangladesh score read at 65/0. This was supposed to be the best start for any team in the Asia Cup Final. At a score of 120 runs, Bangladesh team lost its first wicket when the score was 120 runs. It was none other than Kedar Jhadav with his golden arm doing the job for the team. Mehidy Hasan lost his wicket after scoring a decent 32 runs for the team in the finals. Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim did not stay for long and gave their wickets without getting to the double digits. Yuzvendra Chahal and Kedar Jadhav did the trick for India by picking up the first three wickets of the Bangladesh team. It was time for India to come back in this game. Mohammad Mithun got run out from a brilliant throw from one of the best fielders in the world none other than Ravindra Jadeja. Soon the course of the game totally shifted towards the team India. Although they were losing wickets in quick succession, Liton Das made sure not to give away his wicket. He went on to score a brilliant century of just 87 deliveries. Kuldeep Yadav too joined the party by taking wickets of the Bangladesh team. It was Jasprit Bumrah who ended the Bangladesh Team's innings with a brilliant yorker. Bangladesh team scored 222 runs in 48 .3 overs after losing all their 10 wickets.
In the second half of the innings, India did not get to the start that they wanted. Shikhar Dhawan got out after just scoring 15 runs. Nazmul Islam provided the first breakthrough for the Bangladesh team. Ambati Rayadu too followed the opener's footsteps as he got out after scoring a mere 2 runs off 7 deliveries. Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik started building the partnership from the scratch. It seemed to be going pretty well until Rohit got out when the team score was 83 runs.
The scoreboard read 83/3 after 17 overs. It was time for the mega entry of MS Dhoni onto the ground. He received a standing ovation as always. MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik took their time and were forming a decent partnership. A brilliant delivery from Mahmudullah, saw Karthik heading back to the pavilion. Another Brilliant delivery from Mustafizur Rahman saw MS Dhoni too back to the pavilion. People were left stunned in the stadium. Now, all the pressure was back to the India team as the lower order were just considered to be India's prime bowlers with little to less experience in batsmanship. Kedar Jhadav was not feeling good as his trauma was all back again. His hamstring injury returned to his surprise. After a few overs, he decided to get retired hurt and come back after sometime. It was time for Ravindra Jadeja to handle the pressure situation for the Indian team. He along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar stiched a decent partnership and took the score past 200 runs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the man of the moment. In the 45th over, Bhuvneshwar took a long stride and hit a massive six of Rubel's over. Soon in the next over, he hit Mustafizur Rahman for a boundary bringing the score down to 13 runs required of last 3 overs. As expected, it was not going to be an easy end for the Indian side, Rubel Hossain picked up the important wicket of Ravindra Jadeja. Kedar made his way out in the middle for helping India cross the line in the Asia Cup final. Some brilliant bowling from the Bangladesh team bowlers led to a target of 6 runs needed off the last 6 deliveries. Last over was being bowled by Soumya Sarkar. It all went down to the wire with the Indian side requiring 1 run off the last delivery. A fiery delivery on the leg side and Jhadav made sure to steal a run and India win the Asia Cup 2018. It is the seventh team that India is lifting the Asia Cup 2018 trophy.
Bangladesh team played a brilliant game to reach the finals of the Asia Cup 2018 and did give the Indian team the much-needed competition. One can say that this match was quite competitive and none the less Cricket is the real winner of this match. After the Asia Cup 2018 series, one thing that is still the worry for the Indian team is their middle order strength. The time is running out and they need to do something for it as early as possible because the next big tournament " World Cup 2019" is coming up in England next year.
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