Shakib Al Hasan
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan was shattered after the loss. (Photo by Tharaka Basnayaka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Dinesh Karthik DK, as he is fondly called won numerous hearts and broke a lot of Bangladeshi hearts as well, courtesy his clean hitting. He came to the crease in the 19th over when India required 34 off the last 12 balls. Karthik smashed the very ball he faced straight over the bowlers head. Once he hit that six, there was no stopping the Indian wicket-keeper batsman.

Shakib Al Hasan says he will still back Rubel Hossain to bowl the 19th over
Dinesh Karthik’s amazing hitting out of this world, says Shakib Al Hasan. Credit: AP

Karthik did his part, but the bowler who was at the receiving end of all this was fast bowler Rubel Hossain as he gave away 22 runs in the 19th over of the match. This over completely turned the match India’s favour.

Dinesh Karthik, Shakib Al Hasan
Karthik’s last ball six took India over the line (Credits: AP)

Karthik was demoted in the batting line up while all-rounder Vijay Shankar got a promotion and was sent ahead of the experienced batsman. The decision seemed to had back-fired for the Indian team as Shankar failed to find the timing and was unable to get the run-rate going at par with the required run-rate.

The onus now came on the experienced shoulders of Dinesh Karthik, and he did the job for his team.

Bangladesh looked in a comfortable position to win the match, and the Bangladesh captain had the right man to bowl the penultimate over.

Shakib Al Hasan
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan was shattered after the loss.
(Photo by Tharaka Basnayaka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

However, Hossain was unable to complete the job for his captain but still has his backing. Shakib Al Hasan backed his bowler and said he bowled according to the plan but Karthik batted superbly.

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He said:

“To be honest he did not miss much of the plan when he bowled. I don’t know if there are many batsmen who can come and hit a six off the first ball, the next for a four and then again a six. Such batting is rare in history, it was miraculous batting. But he (Karthik) did that. Of course Rubel was nervous after giving away 10 runs from the first two balls and that is natural. But still I think I will back him if there is a similar situation in the future.”  

Soumya Sarkar, Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik hit Soumya Sarkar for a last-ball six. (Photo by Tharaka Basnayaka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

When asked how difficult it was to hide his emotions after such a narrow defeat Shakib said:

“I actually don’t know… There is no point crying about it. Yes, there can be emotions attached to such occasions but there isn’t anything to do here. It’s not possible to rewind time, so we have to do better when there is a similar situation again. We have lost many close games and finals.”

“This was the fifth one (final) and all of them were close matches. The closest I think was the Asia Cup and then today’s one (Sunday)… I think this was even closer (than the Asia Cup). I think we are moving forward.”

Here’s the news feed:

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