India-Bangladesh rivalry: Revisiting the previous finals
Two Asian neighbours have battled out two tournament finals so far, here is a recollection of both before they fight out the Asia Cup 2018 Final tomorrow
The final of the Asia Cup 2018 is upon us and contrary to the popular expectations, it’s Bangladesh who have forced their way in the encounter against India, throwing out Pakistan. Bangladesh managed to defeat Pakistan by 37 runs in the last match of the Super Four round to achieve their third appearance in the final of the Asia Cup.
They now confront India, who have been undefeated in the tournament so far.
India and Bangladesh have battled against each other 34 times on ODI cricket and the overall record favours the blue side who have won 28 matches while Bangladesh have gone on to upset the giants on five occasions. In neutral conditions, India lead 11-1. The sole loss was the humiliating defeat that crashed India’s 2007 World Cup campaign.
Even in the Asia Cup, India have an upper hand over Bangladesh with a tremendous record of 10-1 over the last 30 years. As we look ahead to the Asia Cup final on 28th September, here is a recollection of India taking on Bangladesh in the tournament finals.
1. Asia Cup 2016 Final, T20I, 6th March 2016
The Asia Cup 2016 was played in the T20I format and was hosted by Bangladesh themselves. Bangladesh, in the group round, upstaged both Sri Lanka and Pakistan to end up at the second spot thus setting up the final of the tournament against India who had won all four of their encounters.
The final at Dhaka was under great threat as a summer thunderstorm lashed out just before the start of play. The ground staff readied the ground, despite such calamity, and the match was reduced to 15-overs each. India’s captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first.
After a quick-start from Soumya Sarkar, Bangladesh lost their way as they lost both their openers within the first five overs. Sabbir Rehman and Shakib Al Hasan stitched a 34-run rebuilding partnership but by the end of 12th over, Bangladesh were languishing at 75/5. Demoted to number seven, Mahmudullah came out swinging hard and with his belligerent 33 from 13 balls carried the host nation to the score of 120/5 after 15 overs.
In reply, India lost their opener, Rohit Sharma, in the second over. Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli set about the rebuilding work and put together a 94-run partnership for the second wicket, leaving India with 22 runs to win from 14 balls.
Captain MS Dhoni then stole the show with a stormy knock of 20 runs from six balls and finished off the match with a characteristic six.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 120/5 in 15 overs (Mahmudullah 33*, S Rehman 32*, J Bumrah 13/1, R Ashwin 14/1) lost to India 121/2 in 13.5 overs (S Dhawan 60, Kohli 41*, MS Dhoni 20*, T Ahmed 14/1) by eight wickets.