||Desk Report||

India’s spinning trio of Kedar Jadhav, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Kuldeep Yadav made a great comeback to dismantle Bangladesh’s batting lineup after their openers, Liton Das and Mehidy Hasan, put up a 120-run partnership in Asia Cup final.

A 121-run from Liton, who registered his maiden ton at the Dubai International Stadium, salvaged the Tigers’ pride. Only two other Bangladesh batsman, Mehidy (32) and Soumya Sarkar (33), entered the double-figures while a poor show from their middle-order did not allow them to post more than 222 runs losing all the wickets in 48.3 overs.

In reply, India skipper Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan started on a positive note but the latter had to return with 15 runs to his name as Nazmul Islam bagged his wicket. Rayudu fell cheaply as he got caught behind off Mashrafe’s delivery.

Rohit, however, kept the score ticking with Dinesh Karthik while also surviving a run-out when India were at 79/2. The opener got dismissed a short while later as he tried to pull Rubel Hossain’s short delivery only to get caught by Nazmul.

Rohit added 48 important runs to the total before returning to the pavilion. The two wicketkeeper-batsmen, MS Dhoni and Karthik, then added 54 runs for the fourth wicket to strengthen their grip on the match.

Karthik was trapped lbw by Mahmudullah Riyad, playing a substantial innings of 37 runs.

Dhoni is still at the crease, batting on 30 runs. He will now look to take the team past the finishing line by stitching another good partnership, while the Mashrafe-led men will try to unsettle the opponents by taking a few more wickets.

 

Score

BAN – 222 all-out (48.3 Overs)

IND – 139/4 (32 Overs)