Indian batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni plays a shot during the final one day international (ODI) Asia Cup cricket match between Bangladesh and India at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai on September 28, 2018. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP) After early batting collapse, chasing 223 runs, former skipper steady Men in Blue’s ship .
Dubai : Former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni once again came to India’s rescue after the Men in Blue found themselves in trouble at 83-3 chasing Bangladesh’s 223- run target in the final of the Asia Cup here on Friday.
In-form openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan failed to provide India a good start as Dhawan departed early with India’s score at 35. Rohit Sharma seemed to be in good touch before he was out on 48. He smashed 3 fours and as many sixes in 55-ball knock.
Dhoni stitched 54-run partnership with Dinesh Karthik for the fourth wicket. Karthik scored 37 runs from 61 balls.
At the time of going to the press India were at 147-4 in 33 overs with Dhoni batting at 35 runs along with Kedar Jadhav (12)
Earlier, India’s unorthodox spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Jadhav wreaked havoc after opener Liton Das’s fine hundred as Bangladesh were bowled out for a modest 222 in the final of the Asia Cup here on Friday.
An injury-ravaged Bangladesh made a flying start, courtesy Liton’s maiden ODI hundred (121 off 117 balls), as he added 120 runs with fellow opener Mehidy Hasan Miraz (32).
Just when it looked like Bangladesh would make a match of it, things went downhill as India’s tiny neighbours suffered an all-too-familiar batting collapse, losing 10 wickets for 102 runs. The innings lasted 48.3 overs. Chinaman Kuldeep’s three for 45 was well complemented by Kedar’s 2-41 in nine overs of unconventional off-breaks, as Bangladesh frittered away the initiative with poor shot selection.
Dhoni’s smart work behind the stumps also played its part as much as Ravindra Jadeja’s electric fielding inside the 30-yard circle. Promoting lower-order batsman Miraz as opener was a masterstroke by skipper Mashrafe Mortaza, who wanted to preserve his regular opener Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar.
Miraz did his job perfectly by dropping anchor as Liton hit a flurry of boundaries off Jasprit Bumrah (1-39) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Anything on his legs was dispatched to the boundary. When Yuzvendra Chahal (1-31 in 8 overs) was introduced, he was hit over deep mid-wicket for a six, as India found it difficult to get a breakthrough. However, things changed once Miraz was caught by Ambati Rayudu in the cover region off Kedar’s bowling.
The moment Kedar started bowling his side-arm off-breaks, Bangladesh couldn’t force the pace as he mixed his deliveries well.
He bowled an impressive 28 dot balls. Imrul Kayes (2) was adjudged leg-before off Chahal and the in-form Mushfiqur Rahim (2) pulled a rank half-tracker from Kedar straight into the deep mid-wicket’s hands.
From 120 for no loss, Bangladesh slumped to 137 for three and things went from bad to worse from thereon. Mohammed Mithun (2) was the next to go. Jadeja dived full stretched to stop a cover drive from Liton and then threw the ball back to the non-striker’s end after watching Mithun halfway down the pitch.
Mahmudullah (4) played across the line off Kuldeep and Bumrah took a well-judged catch at the deep mid-wicket boundary. Liton, who hit 12 boundaries and two sixes, was finally stumped by a hair’s breadth when he missed Kuldeep’s wrong ‘un. While Liton was stumped while playing a defensive stroke only to miss Kuldeep’s googly and get stumped by Dhoni.
Bangladesh
Das st Dhoni b Kuldeep 121
Mehidy c Rayudu b Jadhav 32
Kayes lbw b Chahal……. 2
Mushfiqur c Bumrah b Jadhav.. 5
Mithun run out………….. 2
Mahmudullah c Bumrah b Kuldeep 4
Sarkar run out………… 33
Mortaza st Dhoni b Kuldeep………. 7
Nazmul run out……….. 7
Mustafizur not out……………. 2
Rubel b Bumrah…………… 0
Extras: (lb 2, w 5)…….. 7
Total: (all out; 48.3 overs) 222
Bowling: Kumar 7-0-33-0, Bumrah 8.3-0-39-1, Chahal 8-1-31-1, Kuldeep 10-0-45-3, Jadeja 6-0-31-0, Jadhav
9-0-41-2.
India
Rohit c Nazmul b Rubel………. 48
Dhawan c Sarkar b Nazmul 15
Rayudu c Mushfiqur b Mortaza 2
Karthik lbw b Mahmudullah………. 37
Dhoni not out………….. 31
Jadhav not out……………………………..9
Extras: (lb 1, w 4)….. 5
Total: (4 wkts; 33 overs) 147
Scores updated till 33 overs