Bangladesh came agonisingly close to winning the Nidahas Trophy, but it was a certain Dinesh Karthik who crushed the hopes of the Bangla supporters and the players. The wicket-keeper batsman struck an unbeaten 29 of 8 deliveries which contained three sixes and a couple of fours. Before Karthik came into the crease, Bangladesh was well in control of the game. However, the wicket-keeper batsman kept his calm and delivered the killer blow for India.

Talking about the entire process in the last two overs, Shakib said that Rubel was their best bowler on the day. He wanted to give some cushion to Soumya Sarkar who eventually bowled the final over. There is no denying the fact that Shakib took the correct decision to give Rubel the penultimate over. But Karthik’s innings came completely out of the blue and Bangladesh wasn’t prepared for such an assault.

“When Mustafizur bowled that brilliant over, India needed 34 off the last two overs. Rubel was our best bowler today after the way he bowled the first three overs. I believed in him. I thought even if he bowled badly, he would go for 15 runs. I would have 20 runs to play within the last over, which would have given Soumya some cushion. It was the plan behind bringing Rubel in the 19th over,” Shakib was quoted as saying by bd crictime.

The final is likely to have a psychological impact on Soumya Sarkar and Rubel Hossain. However, Shakib said that he will back Rubel yet again if a similar sort of situation comes again. He further added that he doesn’t remember many players who can strike the ball from the outset like Karthik did the other day.

“He (Rubel) didn’t miss by much. I don’t know many batsmen who can hit a six off the first ball, and then keep hitting the boundaries. There are very few instances in history. There was something otherworldly about it. He got nervous after going for 10 runs off the first two balls. I still feel that I will back him the next time such a situation comes,” the Bangladesh skipper said.

Shakib revealed that he didn’t say anything much to Soumya Sarkar before he began bowling the final over. Apparently said not to rush through the deliveries and keep his calm. He conceded only seven runs in the first five deliveries but conceded a six in the final delivery which ended Bangladesh’ hopes.

“I didn’t tell [Soumya] anything in particular. It is better not to tell a bowler [too much]. I just told him to take his time. Sometimes you can rush into a delivery and then miss your length. I think he bowled very well for three overs and in fact, I can’t really blame anyone; we just had two bad overs. I am not blaming anyone. I am really proud of the team’s bowling and fielding effort,” Shakib concluded.

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