Shubman Gill’s classy century (121, 133b, 8x4, 5x6) and Axar Patel’s final flourish (42, 34b, 3x4, 2x6) were not enough for India as Rohit’s men went down to Bangladesh by six runs in the final Super 4s fixture, a dead rubber, of the Asia Cup Super 4s at the R. Premadasa Stadium here.
Mustafizur Rahman took three wickets, including two in the penultimate over including the crucial one of Axar to derail India’s victory march.
Earlier in the Bangladesh innings on Friday, Ravindra Jadeja joined Kapil Dev as the only other Indian all-rounder to have achieved a double of scoring 2,000 runs and scalping 200 wickets.
The Jamnagar southpaw was all smiles. Over the next two months, he is going to be one of the vital cogs in India’s quest to regain the World Cup on home soil. Jadeja’s milestone was overshadowed by Bangladesh captain’s stylish knock as Bangladesh put on 265 for eight in a bid to return home with a consolation win.
Shakib, with an uncanny similarity to Jadeja in terms of skillsets, took guard with Bangladesh reeling at 15 for two. Despite India dropping catches in plenty, Shakib, in danger of running out of partners as the scoreboard read 59 for four in the 14th over with Mehidy Hasan Miraz — dropped twice off Shardul Thakur in the same over — ran out of luck.
Towhid Hridoy then held one end up as Shakib played freely. The duo’s 101-run association rescued Bangladesh and the team finished strongly to put on a respectable total.
The only time Shakib stumbled was off Tilak Varma’s off-spin in the 19th over. But K.L. Rahul couldn’t pouch the edge to hand the debutant his maiden ODI wicket.
Tilak wasn’t the only change in India’s line-up. In fact, with the team having qualified for Sunday’s final, India preferred to rest five regulars and give the World Cup reserves and back-ups crucial game-time.
Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj were rested. They were replaced with Tilak, Suryakumar Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna.
Shami and Shardul started off on a bright note, picking the openers without any fuss. Shami’s immaculate seam position meant he breached Litton Das’ defence off the first ball of his second over. Tanzid Hasan then played Shardul onto the stumps in the next over.
