Asia Cup 2018: Rating the six teams on a scale of 1-10

Bangladesh

Bangladesh started the tournament on a high by winning their first match against Sri Lanka by a huge margin of 137 runs. But they lost their next two matches against Afghanistan and India. They were at the brink of elimination when they turned their campaign around.

In their Super Four match against Afghanistan, they were 87 for 5 before Mahmudullah (74) and Imrul Kayes(72) rescued them to reach 249.

Afghanistan were gallant in their chase and needed eight off the last over. It was now or never for both the teams as the loser had to go out of the tournament. It was then The Fizz, Mustafizur Rahman showed his bowling skills at the death. He gave away just four runs and Bangladesh won by three runs.

Bangladesh reserved their best against Pakistan in the virtual semi-final. They were reduced to 12 for 3 before Mushifiqur Rahim and Mohammad Mithun put on 144 runs for the fourth wicket. In the end, a target of 240 was beyond Pakistan’s reach and Bangladesh won by 37 runs to reach the final.

In the final, Bangladesh, asked to bat first, were comfortably placed at 120 for no loss in 20 overs. But their middle-order batsmen played reckless strokes and some crazy running between the wickets resulted in a below-par score of 222.

Bangladesh never gave up as they fought through till the very end. They made early breakthroughs with the ball. The pressure of chasing in the final was on India. When Dhoni got out with India needing still 62 runs, Bangladesh were on top. But they somehow allowed the game to slip out of their grab in that partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

The match went down to the wire and to Bangladesh’s disappointment, Bangladesh lost the match in the last ball of the tournament.

Bangladesh very nearly won the Asia Cup even in the absence of their star players Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan. Their captain Mashrafe Mortaza led by example and showed a lot of character in adversity.

For their indomitable spirit and fighting qualities, Bangladesh get 7 out of 10.