When Sri Lanka dropped out surprisingly early from the Asia Cup, an India Pakistan encounter seemed a foregone conclusion for the final. But the Bangladesh team had other plans. So we had an India Bangladesh final at the Dubai International Stadium and even that did not go as planned!
Most cricket followers expected the Pakistan to emerge victors. However, Bangladesh was clearly the better team on the day. Mustafizur Rahman ended up with figures of 4/43 against Pak who lost by 37 runs. Bangladesh performed with the ball as well as the bat. Mushiqur Rahim narrowly missed his century (99 off 116 balls) but was named Player of the Match.
When India restricted Bangladesh to 223 runs, it seemed an easy target for the Indians. It wasn’t however. Many of the much vaunted Indian batsmen fell cheaply and no one’s personal score crossed the half century mark.
It was anyone’s game till the last ball. It was left to Kedar Sharma to steer India to a tense last ball win in an edge of the seat Asia Cup final. He did this in spite of a hamstring injury; coming back to continue batting after the injury had sent him back to the dressing room.
Bangladesh opener Liton Das gave his team a flying start; helping to put 42 runs on the board in the first 7 overs of the match. His century (121 off 117) was largely instrumental in getting his team to a decent, defendable total; which earned him the Player of the Match award.
Bhuvaneshvar Kumar is primarily a bowler, but he came through with the bat to contribute valuable 21 runs off 33 balls which even included one six.
It was perhaps a mixture of elation and relief with which Indian fans greeted the victory. This little boy was much photographed and tweeted about… his anxiety during and celebration after the victory reflected the collective emotions of Indian fans everywhere.
The men in blue were defending champions of the Asia Cup at the beginning of the tournament. They had defeated Bangladesh in the T20 tournament in 2016. This is the 7th time that India has won the Asia Cup.
The camerapersons also received praise for the images they captured.
Not only did Chacha Chicago sponsor the Dubai Asia Cup visit of India’s biggest cricket fan, he was also seen sporting an India jersey in the final.
Inevitably, the captaincy of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli became the topic of conversation on social media and jokes and meme fest started as well.
This rather unfortunate image of coach Ravi Shastri became viral as well; attracting a joke fest of all its own. Many commentators thought that he looked as though he’d had one too many stiff shots of something extremely alcoholic and looked much the worse for wear.
With the Cricket World Cup next year, Indian cricket fans now have their eyes trained on the biggest prize of all; which will take place in England and Wales in 2019.
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