Asia Cup 2018, final: Things you might have missed in overs 16-30 of India's innings
After restricting Bangladesh for just 222, India were off to a decent start as their skipper Rohit Sharma was taking on the Bangladesh bowlers in spite of losing in-form Shikhar Dhawan and Ambati Rayudu cheaply.
When things were going well for India, Rohit was dismissed for 48 with 140 runs still needed for a win. Since then, Dinesh Karthik, who is batting on 37, and MS Dhoni (29) are playing a sensible brand of cricket and are taking India closer to the target and the title.
At the end of the 30th over, India are 135/3, needing 88 runs to win their seventh Asia Cup title. Let us take a look at two things that you might have missed in the overs 16-30 of the Indian innings.
Also read: Three things you might have missed in the first 15 overs of India's innings
Rohit's strength leads to his downfall
After the dismissals of Shikhar Dhawan and Ambati Rayudu, all eyes were on skipper Rohit Sharma to take the team home in the chase of 223. The right-hander was looking solid in the middle as he has been timing the ball so well and was looking good for his fourth straight fifty and become the first captain to do so in the Asia Cup.
But, pacer Rubel Hossain gave Bangladesh the wicket they wanted as he dismissed Rohit caught at deep square-leg by Nazmul Islam for 48. The way he got out will come as a surprise to many as he tried to pull a short delivery from Rubel and was cramped for room before hitting it straight to Nazmul.
Without a doubt, Rohit is one of the best players of pull shot in the world and has scored so many runs with it in his career. But, his strength became his downfall in the final as India were 140 runs behind the target set by Bangladesh.
Proper plan in place for MS Dhoni
The moment Rohit Sharma got out to Rubel Hossain, the game started hanging in the balance and the next few overs was always going to determine which way the match is going to swing.
India had two experienced batsmen in the crease which include MS Dhoni, who has scored over 10000 ODI runs and has won a lot of matches for his team while chasing. The onus was always on the former skipper to take India home.
Realizing this, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza has set an attacking field for both Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik and didn't give anything away for the batsmen. Once the batsmen were denied singles by the close-in fielders, the pressure mounted on them to go for their shots.
The plan was in place, especially against MS Dhoni, who was batting on 6 off 22 deliveries before breaking the shackles.