Asia Cup 2023: The Indian team, which had already reached the final, suffered its first defeat of the Asia Cup 2023 in the last match of the Super-Four stage.
Shubman Gill’s century and Axar Patel’s brilliant innings in the end also did not prove to be enough against Bangladesh. This is only Bangladesh’s second win over India in the history of the Asia Cup, having previously lost to India in Mirpur, 2012.
However, the result of this match will not matter for both teams. Now the final match of the tournament will be played between India and Sri Lanka on September 17. Batting first after losing the toss, Bangladesh set a challenging target of 266 runs for India.
Later, the spinners took on the Indian batsmen while weaving their nets. India needed 12 runs in the last over and had only one wicket left. Shami did hit a four, but was run out on the fifth ball, thus Bangladesh won by six runs.
Inconsequential match for India
The Indian team had already reached the final of the Asia Cup and the last match of the Super-4 stage was like a practice for them. For this match, Team India made five changes to their line-up. Fast bowlers Mohammed Shami and Prasidh Krishna were included in the playing XI while young Tilak Verma was handed his One Day International (ODI) debut.
On the other hand, Bangladesh had nothing to lose. Its captain Shakib Al Hasan (80 runs) and Tauhid Hriday (54 runs) took advantage of India’s weak bowling attack and scored half-centuries. Thanks to this, Bangladesh posted a total of 265/8.
Team India lost due to their own mistakes
If Suryakumar, Tilak and KL Rahul had not dropped three catches for the Indian team, Bangladesh’s innings might have ended earlier. Anyway, in this match, India rested Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Mohammad Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav. Due to this, Mohammed Shami, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur and Suryakumar Yadav were included in the playing XI along with Tilak Verma, who made his ODI debut.
Shubman Gill’s century went in vain
In response to the target of 266 runs, the Indian team was reduced to 259 runs in 49.5 overs. Opener Shubman Gill (121 runs) scored his fifth ODI century, but could not lead the team to victory. Gill remained at one end, but wickets kept falling from the other end.
He held out against Bangladesh’s spin attack till the 44th over, his 133-ball innings including eight fours and five sixes. Akshar Patel (42 runs in 34 balls) kept India in the race for victory by hitting some brilliant shots in the end, but could not save it from defeat.
India did not have a good start and without opening the account, captain Rohit Sharma reached the pavilion by giving an easy catch to Anamul Haq on the ball of debutant Tanzim Hasan Shakib off the second ball of the innings.
Tilak Verma had a disappointing ODI debut and he fell victim to Tanzim Hasan. Thus India lost its second wicket in the third over. KL Rahul (19 runs) was supporting Gill. While Gill batted fast and reached his half-century, Rahul was playing slowly. Suryakumar Yadav (26 runs) also disappointed.
Ravindra Jadeja’s ‘double’
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has become the second cricketer from India and 14th in the world to score more than 2,000 runs and take more than 200 wickets in One Day International (ODI) cricket. Jadeja was playing his 182nd ODI International.
Jadeja completed his 200 wickets in One Day Internationals by dismissing Bangladesh’s Shamim Hossain. Before Jadeja, this feat was achieved by the great all-rounder Kapil Dev from India. Apart from scoring 3783 runs in 225 ODIs, he also took 253 wickets. Jadeja has become the seventh Indian bowler to take 200 wickets in ODIs. Before him, Anil Kumble (337 wickets), Javagal Srinath (315), Ajit Agarkar (288), Zaheer Khan (282), Harbhajan Singh (269) and Kapil Dev (253) had reached this milestone.
