Bangladesh finish Asia Cup with win over India

|| CF DESK ||

Bangladesh beat India by six runs in their dead rubber Asia Cup Super Four contest at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday.

India, who had already booked a meeting with Sri Lanka in Sunday's final in Colombo, faltered in their chase of 266 despite a valiant 121 by opener Shubman Gill.

Mustafizur Rahman took three wickets while debutant Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Mahedi Hasan claimed two each as Bangladesh bowled out India for 259 to end their tournament on a high ahead of the upcoming ODI World Cup.

20-year-old Sakib marked his debut with a gold wicket of India skipper Rohit Sharma and struck for a second time to remove India's debutant Tilak Varma in his opening spell.

In the second ball of the Indian innings, Rohit chipped one to cover-point as he went after a teasing wide one and paid the price, departing for a duck.

Then Sakib smacked the top of off-stump from over the wicket, leaving Tilak, who was shouldering his arms to the ball, stunned. Tilak had only hit one boundary in his nine-ball five-run effort.

Interestingly, it was Sakib who got Tilak out in the 2020 Under-19 World Cup final too.

Gill stood firm and put on key partnerships with KL Rahul (19) and then Suryakumar Yadav (26) but Bangladesh bowlers kept chipping away with wickets.

The right handed batter, who hit eight fours and five sixes in his 133-ball knock, hit Mahedi for a huge six over mid-wicket but the bowler had his revenge on the next ball to get the batsman caught out.

Axar Patel attempted to pull off the chase in his 34-ball 42 but fell to Mustafizur and the innings soon ended in 49.5 overs.

Earlier, Bangladesh made a poor start after being invited to bat first, with five changes to the playing XI. Opener Tanzid Tamim failed again (scoring only 13) and Litton Das was removed for a duck.

Anamul Haque Bijoy (4), who returned to the ODI fold as a surprising call also failed to impress after getting top-edged to Shardul Thakur.

Then, skipper Shakib al Hasan attempted to form a partnership with Mehidy Hasan Miraz but was unsuccessful as Miraz was sent off by Axer Patel with a catch at slip.

Miraz returned to the pavilion with 13 off 28 while Shakib joined hands with Towhid Hridoy to form a 101-run partnership that steadied their innings and helped the side cross past the 150-run mark.

Shardul struck again following a long pause by taking the prized wicket of Shakib as the batter got inside edged on the first delivery after drinks break. Shakib top-scored with an 85-ball 80 which featured six boundaries and three sixes.

Hridoy kept up the charge and reached his fifty with a boundary but soon fell to Shami. He registered his second fifty of the tournament hitting 54 off 81. 

Nasum Ahmed, a left-arm spinner who is known to slog with the bat, also contributed with 44 while Mahedi added 29 as Bangladesh posted a competitive total.

Shardul finished with three wickets and Mohammad Shami got two wickets for India.  

Bangladesh ended the tournament with two wins including one in the group stage against Afghanistan.