Asia Cup 2018: 7 reasons behind India's last-ball win over Bangladesh in the final
India are the Asia Cup champions. They won the tournament for a record 7th time when they beat Bangladesh by 3 wickets in the very last ball of the final. What a final it turned out to be!
The fortune fluctuated from one team to the other till the very end. In the end, it was India who yet again won a very close match against Bangladesh to lift the Asia Cup.
There have been so many reasons and turning points in the match which led to India’s triumph. Here are the 7 of those which had an impact on the final outcome of the match.
1. Kedar Jadhav’s breakthroughs with the ball
At the toss, Rohit Sharma decided to play to the strength of his own team, which was chasing, rather than to the weakness of the opponent. That prompted him to field first. Bangladesh would have batted first anyway because they knew they weren't too keen on chasing big totals.
Bangladesh grabbed Rohit’s generous gesture with both hands and opened the innings with Liton Das and bowler Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Mehidy was opening the batting for the first time in his career. It was a bold move from Bangladesh as they were able to experiment with their batting order since they were batting first.
Bangladesh reached 50 in the eighth over itself. Liton Das was the aggressive partner. He reached 50 off just 33 balls with the help of 6 fours and 2 sixes. At the other end, Mehidy Hasan was giving him able company and Bangladesh reached 116 in 20 overs. Rohit Sharma was left to rue his decision to bowl first.
Then came the golden arm for India, Kedar Jadhav. He was introduced into the attack in the 21st over of the innings. He made an immediate impact by breaking the opening partnership, removing Mehidy Hasan for 32. That was the breakthrough India were looking for.
He then went one step ahead by dismissing Bangladesh’s in-form batsmen Mushfiqur Rahim in his 4th over. Jadhav bowled a half-tracker which Rahim pulled into the hands of the deep midwicket. Those two wickets from was the first turning point for India in the final.