Asia Cup 2018: India beat Bangladesh by 3 wickets in thrilling final 

It was a great game of cricket as India retained the Asia Cup title with a thrilling 3 wicket win in the finals of Unimoni Asia Cup 2018 played at Dubai International Stadium, Dubai played on Saturday. Despite Liton Das' 121, the Indian bowlers made a strong comeback and bowled out Bangladesh for a below-part total. It wa then the turn of the Indian batsmen, who held their nerve to win the title.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to field first. Bangladesh openers Liton Das and new opener Mehedi Hasan Miraz made an aggressive start, putting the Indian bowlers under tremendous pressure with their stroke play. Both Liton Das and Miraz scored 65 runs in the first 10 overs.

Liton Das reached his half-century off 33 balls while Mehedi Miraz also played a crucial role. Kedar Jadhav broke the 120-run stand by dismissing Miraz for 32. After that, the Indian bowlers picked wickets at regular intervals. Yuzvendra Chahal got the wicket of Imrul Kayes for 2, Jadhav took Rahim’s wicket for 5, Mithun was brilliantly run out by Ravindra Jadeja. Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Mahmudullah for 4. From 120 for 1, Bangladesh were reduced to 151 for 5.

Liton Das completed his century in 87 balls while wickets were falling at the other end. Das and Soumya Sarkar added 37 runs for the 6th wicket before Kuldeep Yadav dismissed well set Liton Das for 121. Apart from Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar scored 33 runs. India kept picking wickets and bowled out Bangladesh for 222 in 48.3 overs. For India, Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of bowlers for India taking 3 for 45 in 10 overs, Jadhav 2 wickets, Bumrah and Chahal 1 wicket each. 3 Bangladeshi batsmen were run out.

Chasing the target of 223 to win, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan got off to a flying start adding 35 runs in 4.4 overs. Nazmul Islam got the big wicket dismissing Dhawan for 15. Captain Mortaza picked the wicket of Rayudu for just 2 runs. Rohit Sharma looked in positive touch. India scored 57 for 2 in first 10 overs.

Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik added 37 runs for the 3rd wicket. Rubel Hossain picked the big wicket of Rohit Sharma for 48 to put pressure on Indian batting line up. After that Dinesh Karthik and MS Dhoni steadied the innings with an important 54 runs stand for the 4th wicket. Mahmudullah picked the big wicket of Dinesh Karthik for 37. MS Dhoni played some lovely strokes and added 23 runs for 5th wicket. Mustafizur Rahman got the big wicket of MS Dhoni for 36. Kedar Jadhav retired hurt due to his reccuring hamstring injury.

Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar put up an important partnership for India adding 45 runs for the 6th wicket. Both batsmen were dismissed in quick succession. With 6 runs required off last over, Kuldeep Yadav scored 5 off 5 and Kedar Jadhav made sure that India won the match in the last ball with 3 wickets to spare. Kedar Jadhav remained not out on 23 while Ravindra Jadeja contributed 23 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar made important 21 runs.

For Bangladesh, Mustafizur Rahman and Rubel Hossain picked 2 wickets each, Nazmul Islam, Captain Mortaza and Mahmudullah picked 1 wicket each.

With this win, India retained the Asia Cup title which they won in 2016. It is the 7th time that India has won Asia Cup title.