India Retain Asia Cup; Defeat Bangladesh in Last Ball Victory

In what turned out to be an unwitting nail-biter, India beat Bangladesh in the ACC Asia Cup, defending their title as champions and cementing their position as a team to be reckoned with in the region. India won the toss and elected to field. Bangladesh got off to a flying start with Liton Das scoring 121 runs at more than a run a ball, but he received little support from his teammates, as Bangladesh only managed a total of 222 runs in less than their allotted 50 overs. India came out to bat with a restored lineup after their tied match against Afghanistan, but Bangladesh gave them a tough fight until the very last ball of the match.

Bangladesh did little to support the quick-scoring Liton Das who seemed to be making short work of the Indian bowling attack, having been promoted to the opening batsman position and making his captain proud. Wicket fell all around him at an alarming rate with most of the other batsmen not managing more than single-digit scores. To make matters worse, it appeared as though Bangladesh were playing in a somewhat haphazard manner, displaying poor shot selection and attempting singles where there were none. With a total of three batsmen getting run out, with another two including Das who was stumped, they did little to make the most of their third Asia Cup finals appearance.

However, when it came time to bowl, the Bangladesh bowlers made 222 look like a 300-plus score, getting Shikhar Dhawan and Ambati Rayudu out for scores of 15 and 2, respectively. Shortly afterwards, captain Rohit Sharma fell short of his fifty by a couple of runs, and the onus of getting the innings back on track fell to former captain M.S. Dhoni and Dinesh Kartik. However, they too seemed to be troubled by the Bangladesh bowling attack, falling on scores of 36 and 37 runs. Kedhar Jadhav had to retire from the field of play with a hamstring injury, only to be forced back out after the fall of Ravindra Jadeja. As the run rate crossed six runs an over in the last two overs, it looked like the match would come down to the Super Over due to a tied result at the end of 50 overs. However, needing one run off the last delivery, the injured Jadhav got a delivery on his pads and ran through for a bye to win the match.