Nidahas Trophy 2018 Final: Bangladesh vs India, 5 talking points

Dinesh Karthik stole the thunder with a stunning last-ball six in an exhilarating, edge of the seat thriller at Colombo in the Nidahas Trophy final. Spurred on by a superb show from the spinners - Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal - India restricted Bangladesh to 166, which could have been much lesser had Sabbir Rahman not stood up and fought with vengeance.

India started off with a blast as Rohit Sharma found his groove early on. He dug into the clueless Bangladesh bowlers and raced into the 30s in no time. Before the bowlers had a breather, Rahul joined him and the duo run havoc to tilt the game fully India's way.

But Rohit departed and a slew of good overs had India staring down the barrel before Karthik came to the rescue with a mind-blowing knock under immense pressure.

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#5 Washington Sundar excels again

Sundar was again economical in the powerplay

Washington Sundar seems to be India's new go-to bowler. The 18-year-old off-spinner has been brilliant in the powerplays and continued to excel yet again in the all-important final. He nearly had Tamim Iqbal LBW off the first over he bowled before getting rid of Liton Das caught next over. Sundar ended with figures of 1 for 20 in the match.

The first two overs of him went for a meagre five runs as Bangladesh appeared choked by his relentless, miserly bowling. In 120 balls bowled this series, Sundar has conceded just 114 runs at an economy rate of 5.7. The spectacular youngster has been a revelation this series and should be India's designated new ball bowler in this format of the game.

#4 Yuzvendra Chahal finds form after South African T20 disaster

Chahal has hit his straps at the right time

With the IPL looming, Yuzvendra Chahal has found his feet after going at less than 6 an over in three of the five games. He ended the good Nidahas Trophy with a spectacular spell of 3/18 in his four overs. He had Tamim Iqbal caught in the deep courtesy a blinder from Shardul Thakur and went on to capture Soumya Sarkar in the same over to leave Bangladesh leaving reeling at 33/3.

Chahal bowled out his spell of overs in one burst and completed his fourth with the big scalp of Mushfiqur Rahim who has been in outstanding touch this series. Rahim was deceived by a googly way outside off-stump and carved the ball in the air to the backward point to gift Chahal his third wicket in the game.

#3 Sabbir Rahman stands up for Bangladesh

Sabbir Rahman was in fine touch for the Tigers

Having ensured a rather ordinary series, Sabbir Rahman chose the biggest match to stamp his name in the tournament. With Bangladesh losing three wickets in the space of six runs, the onus fell on Sabbir, who had walked in at No. 3 to lift Bangladesh to a decent total. The flamboyant batsman is a delight to watch when on song but hasn't quite gotten going in recent times.

Putting behind his poor form, Sabbir started off sedately and rightly targeted Vijay Shankar's short of a length deliveries to get going. A six and a four later, Sabbir appeared a completely different batsman and he rode the tough overs from the spinners - Chahal and Washington - before smashing Thakur for a couple of fours back to back. He ended with a 50 ball 77 that propelled Bangladesh to a decent total.

#2 Rohit Sharma leads from the front

Rohit Sharma took over the mantle of guiding the run chase

Rohit Sharma overcame his woes in South Africa to skipper the side and lead from the front with the bat to guide India to a fine series victory. The Mumbaikar was in hitman mode early on, smashing 22 off the first 11 balls he faced and carried on in the same vein despite losing Dhawan and Raina.

Bangladesh needed to get rid of Rohit early to stand a chance but the Mumbai Indians skipper was in no mood to let down a Sri Lankan crowd cheering for him. He almost turned the run chase into a mere formality as he clubbed the hapless Bangladesh bowlers around to register a fine half-century, his second in the tournament.

#1 Dinesh Karthik does a Dhoni

Karthik set the final on fire with a spectacular blitzkrieg (Credits: Indian Express)

Walking in after Vijay Shankar had been 'fizz'led and Manish Pandey fell prey to the final ball, Dinesh Karthik had a job on his hands. Cool as a cucumber, the shirt statured, underestimated wicket-keeper batsman smacked two sixes and a four off the first three balls he faced. Another boundary followed soon as India needed 12 from the final over.

Although he couldn't quite nail the big shots early in the over or boost Vijay Shankar to do so, Karthik had everyone at the edge of their seats with India needing five to win from one ball. It had to be a six to win and the immensely talented Karthik, icy cool under severe pressure nailed a fabulous shot over cover to seal the game for India Dhoni-style.