Bharath Ramaraj in Dubai
Despite ending up with a slightly below-par total, India continued their unbeaten run in the 2025 Asia Cup, beating Bangladesh by 41 runs in a Super 4 game played in Dubai. Bangladesh could manage only 127 in a chase of 169 as India sealed their place in the final.
In the chase, India needed early wickets and they got one in the form of Tanzid Hasan, who could only spoon a catch to mid-on off Jasprit Bumrah. The Indian pace spearhead continued to find swing and seam as he induced numerous false shots while bowling to Parvez Emon.
The left-hander, however, did smash a short-of-a-length ball from Bumrah straight down the ground. Emon also took the aggressive route against Varun Chakaravarthy, cracking a couple of eye-catching slog sweeps. Emon, though, tried one sweep too many and was dislodged by Kuldeep Yadav.
Saif Hassan (69 off 51 balls) tried to keep up with the required run-rate, landing meaty blows against Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel, which included two sixes in the 14th over. Until Saif was there at the crease, Bangladesh had a window of opportunity to cause an upset. He also lived a charmed life, getting three reprieves. But with wickets falling at regular intervals, he had too much to do.
For India, Varun imparted enough overspin and finished with figures of 2 for 29. It could have been more but for fluffed chances. Kuldeep, with his bagful of tricks, was the best bowler on show, taking a three-for. It is quite evident that he is imparting considerable revs on the ball. The Indian camp also would be happy with Bumrah’s opening spell.
The narrative surrounding India’s score was about how they lost the plot after finding themselves at 96 for 2 at the completion of 10 overs. Once Abhishek Sharma was dismissed for a whirlwind 37-ball 75, the rest of the batters couldn’t maintain the run-rate. Rishad Hossain accounted for the wickets of both Shivam Dube and Shubman Gill.
Suryakumar Yadav, the India skipper, once more played a scratchy knock. He could only glance one down the leg-side to the ‘keeper. When the impressive Tanzim Hasan removed Tilak Varma with a slower one, India had tumbled to 129 for 5. Axar Patel, batting at No.7, could only muster 10 off 15 deliveries. If not for Hardik Pandya’s pyrotechnics, things could have been worse for India.
Interestingly, Sanju Samson didn’t even come out to bat. In that context, one has to wonder whether India are wasting Jitesh Sharma’s good form. The wicketkeeper-bat is also known for his finishing skills.
Earlier, Gill and Abhishek had laid the foundation with a breezy stand of 77 in little more than 6 overs. Be it Nasum Ahmed’s spin, Mustafizur’s cutters or Saifuddin’s seam-up deliveries, Abhishek essayed a flurry of fours and sixes. In fact, Saifuddin was thwacked for four fours in one over. The highlight of his innings was how he repeatedly skipped down the deck to target straighter boundaries and also square of the wicket. In the final analysis, his innings proved to be the telling difference.
Brief scores: India 168/6 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 75, Hardik Pandya 38; Rishad Hossain 2-27) beat Bangladesh 127 in 19.3 overs (Saif Hassan 69; Kuldeep Yadav 3-18, Varun Chakravarthy 2-29) by 41 runs.
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