Asia Cup 2018, final: Things you might have missed in overs 31-50 of India's innings
India beat Bangladesh by three wickets in the final of the Asia Cup 2018. After a steady start, Indian batsmen batted sensibly in the middle overs and took India closer to victory.
After the 30th over, Dinesh Karthik was trapped plumb in front for 37. Kedar Jadhav looked good before he got injured and soon after MS Dhoni was caught behind off the bowling of Mustafizur Rahman.
In spite of a well-set Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar getting out, Jadhav walked out to bat and took India home with three wickets in hand off the final ball of the game.
Also read: Things you might have missed in overs 16-30 of India's innings
Also read: Three things you might have missed in the first 15 overs of India's innings
Kedar Jadhav's nemesis returns
Middle-order batsman Kedar Jadhav has been a proper find for the Indian ODI side as he provides the team with some runs down the order with the bat and with the ball, he is the man with the golden arm as he has struck regularly with his right-arm of-spin (read right-arm underarm).
He has been often troubled by injuries and is coming back into the Indian team after being out of action for almost three months nursing a hamstring injury he sustained in the first match of the IPL 2018.
The injury returned in the final of the Asia Cup as he tried to steal a quick single after hitting the ball to mid-off. He was looked into by the physio Patrick Farhart and decided to continue batting before he went off soon after. He returned and scored 23 to take India home.
But, it looks like the right-hander could be on the sidelines yet again to nurse his injured hamstring.
Too much time wasting
In the last phase of India's innings, a lot of time was wasted, thanks to both the teams sending out substitutes with drinks, and possibly messages, for the players on the field. Injury to Kedar Jadhav didn't help the cause.
The umpires were involved in a tense conversation with Kedar, MS Dhoni and physio Patrick Farhart when Kedar was receiving treatment and since then, whenever players came into the field, the umpires were quick in asking them to leave the area of play.
India's calculative approach
When Kedar Jadhav was injured, he was not able to run and that hampered the Indian team a lot as they were approaching their target. It applied the pressure on the other batsman and the Indian team management decided to call him back to the pavilion.
This allowed Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar rotate strike and take the team close to the target. The duo didn't take any risk as they batted sensibly and just ran towards the target with some occasional boundaries. Even after the dismissals of Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar, things were under control and India cruised home in spite of having an injured Kedar Jadhav at the crease.
The modest target of 223 helped India's cause in cruising home and win their seventh Asia Cup crown.