Team India lifted their 7th Asia Cup trophy by defeating Bangladesh by three wickets in a thrilling last-ball finish on Friday. Chasing a stiff target of 223 on a two-paced track in Dubai, India got off to an expected start but struggled after losing wickets at regular intervals in the middle overs.
An injury to Kedar Jadhav in the 36th over complicated proceedings but a crucial 52-run partnership between Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja put the men in blue back on track. While Kumar and Jadeja were dismissed in the penultimate over, Jadhav returned to the middle to hit the winning runs off the last ball.
India’s stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma expressed his delight after the fantastic victory and speaking at the post-match presentation he also revealed that he is satisfied with the performance of the team. He said, “We played some good cricket throughout the tournament and this is the reward of all the hard work throughout the tournament. I have been part of games like this before and credit to the guys in the middle to handle the pressure and to cross the finishing line was a fantastic effort. You have to give some credit to Bangladesh. They put us under pressure in the first 10 overs. ”
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Crediting his teammates for their efforts, Sharma said, “If you have a team like that, the captain will always look good. It wouldn’t be easy if we didn’t have the support of the remaining 10 players, so I am really proud of the boys. I would like to thank the crowd, who have come out in huge numbers to support us throughout the tournament and I’m sure they’re going back extremely pleased.”
Meanwhile, a visibly distraught Bangladesh captain Mashraf Mortaza hoped that that Tigers won a lot of hearts as he said that they fought till the last ball, but their small mistakes led to their defeat in the final. He feels that the Bangladeshi bowler bowled brilliantly and if they had scored 240+, then the match could’ve tilted in their favor.
Mortaza concluded, “I wanted to bowl the quicks first, because I wanted to restrict the runs since they were going after us and trying to play shots at that stage. We didn’t want the spinners to be charged so I bowled out the fast bowlers.”
