Rohit Sharma and Co. suffered a close fought defeat against Bangladesh in their last Super 4s encounter of the ongoing Asia Cup. Already qualified for the final match, India made as many as 5 changes in their playing XI. In the batting department, the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and debutant Tilak Varma were added. However, the duo failed to make a big impact in the match. Apart from Shubman Gill who scored a century, none of the Indian batters looked comfortable on the Colombo wicket as Bangladesh went on to script a historic victory in the marquee event.
Shakib was adjudged player of the match
Earlier in the match, Bangladesh piled up 265 runs on the back of a 101 runs fifth wicket stand between Shakib Al Hasan and Towhid Hridoy. The pair of Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Shami opened the bowling for India and quickly pushed the Tigers on the back foot. They were three wickets down for just 28 runs and it started off with Shami cleaning up Litton Das in the third over.
Shakib soaked up the pressure and played a matured innings of 80 off 85 balls. He mixed up citation with aggression and was supported by Hridoy in the rebuilding job. The duo negated the spinners and pacers well during this phase and approached calculatedly.
Right after the second Drinks Break, Shardul Thakur broke the partnership as Shakib chopped one back to the stumps. It was followed by Shami removing Hridoy in quick time. Just when India would’ve thought to capitalize on the moment, Nasum Ahmed and Mahedi Hasan came out of the syllabus. The duo jolted a quickfire of 44(45) and 29(23)* respectively to steer the Bangladesh side to a total of 265 runs in 50 overs.
