Asia Cup 2023: India restrict Bangladesh to 265 runs

India named as many as five changes for the final match of the Super Four of the Asia Cup. India had already qualified for the final of the Asia Cup and hence gave some game time to the players on the bench while resting some of the front-line players. Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami and Prasidh Krishna came back into the squad. Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were among the players who were rested from the game. India won the toss and opted to bowl first as they restricted Bangladesh to 265 runs.

Indian Pacers control the powerplay

The Indian fast bowlers were once again impressive in the powerplay. Mohammed Shami picked up the first wicket dismissing Litton Das for a silver duck. Shardul Thakur who started a bit poorly was hit for two boundaries by Tanzid Hasan. He made a good comeback in his very next over by dismissing Hasan on the very first ball. Thakur struck once again in his third over to dismiss Anamul Haque. Haque only scored four runs during his stay at the crease. Shakib al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz saw out the rest of the powerplay. Mehidy Hasan was dropped twice in the final over of the powerplay firstly by Tilak Varma and then by Suryakumar Yadav at slips. Bangladesh scored 44 runs in the powerplay for the loss of three wickets.

Mehidy’s luck ran out as Axar Patel came into the attack. Axar who went wicketless in India’s last match against Sri Lanka took his first wicket in his first over. Mehidy who was dropped twice earlier in the innings, edged a ball to the first slip where skipper Rohit Sharma took a great diving catch.

Shakib and Hridoy share a great partnership

After losing four wickets with just 59 runs on the board, things looked bleak for the Bangladeshi team. Tilak Varma was handed the ball by Rohit Sharma. He bowled three overs while conceding just seven runs. His fourth over resulted in 14 runs consisting of two sixes. Shakib who has been pretty ordinary in this Asia Cup by his standards was exceptional today. Towhid Hridoy has been a consistent performer with the bat for Bangladesh in this Asia Cup but looked scratchy in his partnership. There were a lot of plays and misses from him. 

India gets back into the game

The duo shared a century partnership as the lack of experience became more evident. Shakib took the aggressor role and scored 60 runs in the partnership in just 54 balls. The very ball after the drinks break, Shardul once again was the man to take the crucial wicket. He dismissed Shakib after a good knock of 80 runs in 85 balls. In the following over, Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Shamim Hossain and picked up his 200th wicket in the format.

A Special DOUBLE Hundred 👏👏

Well done, Ravindra Jadeja!

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— BCCI (@BCCI) September 15, 2023

Shami broke the 32-run 7th wicket stand with a short ball. Hridoy was dismissed after making a half-century. Hridoy’s pull shot went to Tilak positioned at deep mid-wicket. The Indian bowlers once again failed to dismiss the Bangladeshi tailenders. Nasum Ahmed batting at number 8, scored 44 runs in just 45 balls. He shared a 45-run stand with Mahedi Hasan for the 8th wicket. Nasum was bowled by Prasidh Krishna who picked up his first wicket.