Kedar Jadhav's heroic knock helps India beat Bangladesh to lift Asia Cup title
Dubai, Sept 29 (IBNS): In a match that went down to the wire, India defeated Bangladesh by three wickets in the final of the Asia Cup to lift the trophy for the second consecutive time here on Friday.
India had won the title in 2016.
Kedar Jadhav, who suffered from his hamstring trouble, turned out to be the hero for India as he scored a match-winning knock of unbeaten 23 runs to snatch a last-ball win for India.
After bowling out Bangladesh for 222 runs in 48. 3 overs, Indian batsmen reached the target by losing seven wickets in 50 overs.
The match kept swinging and it was finally Indian batsmen who kept their nerves cool to manage a memorable victory in the desert nation.
After Shikhar Dhawan (15) and Ambati Rayudu (2) perished early, skipper Rohit Sharma (48) and Dinesh Karthik (37) put up a small partnership to recover the innings.
Karthik showed some form and added 37 runs with his willow.
Sharma and Karthik added 37 runs in their partnership that helped India in the rebuilding process.
Experienced Rubel Hossain picked up the wicket of Sharma to keep situation tight for India.
MS Dhoni (36) joined the party and the two keepers added 54 runs but Karthik departed after getting the start he needed in the innings.
Kedar Jadhav struggled with his hamstring and even had to retire hurt midway but later he joined the fight after Ravindra Jadeja (23) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (21) departed.
MS Dhoni earlier departed after Jadhav started to struggle with his injury.
Jadhav walked down the park at the end and joined Kuldeep Yadav (5 no) for the final struggle to win the match.
Bangladesh bowlers impressed on Friday night.
Mahmudullah, who picked up the wicket of Karthik, bowled the final over for Bangladesh. With India needing 6 runs from the final over, Mahmadullah tried to keep things tight but ultimately it was Jadhav who cemented seventh Asia Cup victory for the Men in Blue in the last ball of the innings.
Mustafizur Rahman and Rubel Hossain picked up two wickets for Bangladesh.
Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza kept things tight and he picked up one wicket in the match.
Earlier, riding on Liton Das' knock of 121 runs, Bangladesh scored 222 runs in their innings.
He hit 12 boundaries and two sixes for Bangladesh and put some pressure on the Indian bowlers at the beginning of the innings.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who opened the batting for Bangladesh in the final match, added 32 runs as the openers added 120 runs in the opening stand.
After Miraz departed, Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals as India put things into their favour.
Indian bowlers kept the pressure on the Bangladesh batting and bowled out the neighbours for 222 runs in 48.3 overs.
Kuldeep Yadav picked up three wickets for India.
Image: BCCI Twitter page
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