Asia Cup 2018, Super 4, Match 1- India vs Bangladesh- It was a Clinical Performance - Rohit Sharma

Team India produced yet another clinical performance, as they thrashed Bangladesh by seven wickets to start of their Super four campaign of Asia Cup 2018 on a winning note.

India has been unbeaten in the tournament so far and looked utterly ruthless on yet another occasion in Dubai. Even without the services of Virat Kohli, India has been brilliant in all departments of the game barring the game against Hong Kong.

After batting first, Bangladesh only mustered a score of 173 runs. All of the Indian bowlers were quite magnificent. Comeback man, Ravindra Jadeja made a sensational return bagging four wickets for just 29 runs. It and was a great effort and he would have definitely given a strong message to the selectors that he must remain in the scheme of things for the 2019 World Cup.

The Bangladesh batsmen were never able to get going and lost wickets on a consistent basis. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah bagged the wickets of the openers. Mahmudullah batted well towards the later stages of the innings.

However, Bangladesh was five down in the first 18 overs, and there was no way back for them. Later, Mashrafe Mortaza shared a good partnership with Mosaddek Hossain. However, that wasn’t good enough to take Bangladesh over the 200-mark.

However, India was never in any discomfort what so ever. Right from the start, India batted magnificently. Openers Rohit Sharma began brilliantly and struck some beautiful shots in the process. Shikhar Dhawan played some exquisite shots through the cover region and looked in complete control of proceedings. He kept piling on the runs and shared a 61-run stand with Sharma. The southpaw’s dismissal didn’t stop Rohit, as he kept going and churned the Bangladesh bowlers for runs.

After the fall of Ambati Rayudu’s wicket, it was former skipper MS Dhoni who came out in the middle. He looked in great touch and struck some beautiful shots en route to 33 off 37 deliveries. Eventually, India won the encounter by seven wickets and with 84 balls to spare.

Now here is what Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said at the post-match presentation,

“It was a clinical performance. We always knew it was better batting under lights. It is important on this pitch to rotate bowlers as batsmen get used to the bowls quickly. Bowling unit responded very well for us. Chahal and Kuldeep have been bowling really well. They will have an odd off game. All the bowlers bowled according to the plan. it looks easy. We always knew that it will never be easy for the new batsmen so we wanted one of the top order batsmen to be till the end. It will be another big game against Pakistan.”