||Desk Report||

Liton Das’ brilliant maiden ton went in vain as India defeated Bangladesh by three wickets to clinch the Asia Cup for record seventh time in the United Arab Emirates on Friday (September 28).

A middle-order collapse and dubious umpiring left Bangladesh dismissed for 222 runs, and later, despite some hiccups India reached 223-7 in 50 overs to break the heart of the Tigers, as they failed to clinch the trophy after being in the final for the third time in the last four editions.

India managed to stage a terrific comeback with the ball to bowl out Bangladesh in 48.3 overs and later reached their destiny on the back of three substantial innings from Rohit Sharma (48), Dinesh Karthik (37) and MS Dhoni (36).

However, there were lots of twist and turn in the final as the Tigers sniffed some kind of turn around after the departure of Dhoni which was followed by Kedar Jadav being retired hurt on 19.

But Jadeja (23) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar(21) added crucial 45 runs for the sixth wicket before the latter was caught behind to add some drama to the game.

The departure of Bhuvneshwar forced Kedar back on to the crease and the right-hander kept his cool to take his team to the coast of victory when he picked a leg bye in the last ball when his team needed one run to win from it.

Despite not picking up a wicket in the first 20 overs, the spinners were instrumental in helping India to pull it back in their favor by sharing six wickets among them as Bangladesh could only manage 106 in the last 28.3 overs while losing all their wickets in the said period.

The major contributor in a 120-run opening stand, Liton, remained till the 41st over during his 117-ball 121. But a flurry of wickets in the middle overs, which resulted in Bangladesh losing five wickets for 31 runs, had a detrimental effect on Bangladesh's innings which started with a lot of promise only to fall flat eventually.

Liton struck 121 off 117 balls and looked destined for a bigger innings when he was given stumped out controversially by the third umpire, Rod Tucker.

In the 41st over of Bangladesh’s innings, left-arm spinner Kudeep Yadav beat Liton with a googly and MS Dhoni was quick to break the stump, prompting the umpires to refer the matter to upstairs.

Replay remained inconclusive whether Liton managed to take his feet back to the crease but Tucker declared Liton out giving the benefit of doubt to the bowler.

The decision ruined Bangladesh’s prospect of getting a competitive score after the middle-order batsmen wasted a great start – provided by Liton and makeshift opener Mehedi Hasan.

After Mehedi got dismissed for 32 off 59 to with a catch at cover, Imrul Kayes was judged leg before, Mushfiqur Rahim heaved a big shot to be caught at long on for and a brilliant piece of fielding by Ravindra Jadeja saw Mohammad Mithun was run-out for two.

Mahmudullah put himself under pressure by playing some dot balls before his attempt for a six off Kuldeep Yadav saw him getting caught at deep midwicket by Jasprit Bumrah as Bangladesh were reduced to 151-5 n 33rd over from 120-0 in 21st over.

However Liton continued to hammer the Indian bowlers and reached his maiden ton in just 87 balls by clubbing 10 fours and two sixes before his innings ended in a controversial circumstance.

The Mashrafe-led men could reach a modest total after his dismissal, thanks to 33 runs from Soumya Sarkar, who was relegated to number seven in the batting order.

Bnagladesh gambled with Mehedi in the opening pair and it paid off as they the team’s first hundred-run partnership in ODIs since December 2016.