Much like the fading flame of a burning candle, the Tigers fans’ hopes, dreams and expectations that had slowly built up were painfully dashed yesterday as India romped to their sixth Asia Cup title at the home of cricket in Mirpur.
Each and every single run that were garnered by Indian batsmen Shikhar Dhawan (60 off 44 balls) and Virat Kohli (41* off 28) slowly but surely reduced Bangladesh’s chances of an historic win while captain MS Dhoni (20* off six) hammered the final nail in the coffin with eight wickets and seven deliveries to spare.
The early departure of opening batsman and danger-man Rohit Sharma (one) was a distant memory as the second wicket partnership of Dhawan and Kohli stitched together a 94-run association. Indian singles and twos were greeted with groans by the weekday Sher-e-Bangla National stadium crowd while pin-drop silence could be heard following each boundary and six.
The Bangladesh bowlers were desperate to initiate regular breakthroughs, and in the process, put behind the heartbreaking memories of their two-run loss in the 2012 Asia Cup final at home. But with the exception of young tearaway Taskin Ahmed (1/14), none of the Tigers bowlers were successful in the wake of some brutal hitting by the Indian second wicket pair.
The visitors will no doubt be absolutely delighted following a brilliant campaign in which they won all five matches. As far as the home side is concerned, they will barely get the time to lick their wounds as they are set to depart for India today morning ahead of the impending World T20.
That the grand finale eventually got underway yesterday was largely down to the brilliant work of the Mirpur ground staff, led by Sri Lankan Gamini Silva. Slight drizzle engulfed the SBNS hours before the start of the game and it was followed by heavy rainfall. The sight of lightning over the Mirpur stadium made for grim viewing but thankfully, the match did begin, a few hours later than schedule. The umpires reduced five overs, making it a 15-overs per side affair.
A brisk cameo by Mahmudullah and a workmanlike knock by Sabbir Rahman guided Bangladesh to a challenging total of 120/5.
The Tigers were stuttering a bit following the dismissal of captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza (nought) with the scoreboard reading 75/5. But an unbroken 45-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Mahmudullah (33 off 13 balls) and Sabbir (32 off 29 balls) steered the home side to a fighting tally.
Mahmudullah provided a much-needed flourish through his two sixes and as many fours while Sabbir blasted only two boundaries as he was mostly busy taking singles and twos and ticking along the scoreboard.
Earlier, Bangladesh made a solid if unspectacular start with opening batsmen Tamim Iqbal (13 off 17 balls) and Soumya Sarkar (14 off nine balls) posting 27 runs. Soumya was particularly impressive as one of his three fours nearly took out his opening partner at the non-striker’s end.
The Tigers though were pegged back slightly through the quick departures of their openers. Soumya was dismissed while trying to clear mid off while Tamim was trapped plumb in front.
Shakib al Hasan appeared to be in fine touch, striking three crisp boundaries during his 16-ball 21 but was outfoxed by Ravichandran Ashwin while trying to sweep.
Mushfiqur Rahim ended the tournament on a sad note as he departed for a five-ball four but Mahmudullah and Sabbir ensured that the Tigers would have a fighting tally to defend.
Bangladesh headed into the clash making two alterations to the playing XI that had played against Pakistan; Mohammad Mithun making way for Nasir Hossain and Abu Haider Rony replacing Arafat Sunny.
India made three changes to the starting XI that had played against the United Arab Emirates with Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Ashish Nehra replacing Pawan Negi, Harbhajan Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The Tigers will now turn their attention to the World T20 where they face the Netherlands in their first round opener this Wednesday in the picturesque city of Dharamsala.