Asia Cup. Asian Cricket Council (ACC) organise this tournament Biennially. Till now this tournament has been played in 50 over format but this time it will be played in twenty 20 format. It is organised just before the twenty 20 world cup. Thus, it is a preparatory tournament for Asian teams. Five Asian teams are taking part in it. India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and UAE. UAE has qualified for the main tournament by beating Afghanistan, Oman and Hong Kong in the qualifying round. All the matches are being played at Mirpur in Bangladesh. The tournament began on 24th feb, 2016 and India played Bangladesh in its opening encounter.
Mortaza won the toss on the green top in Mirpur and he elected to bowl first. Normally we don't see green tops in this part of the world but these days it is in the fashion in sub continent. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma came out to bat for India and the ball was swinging from very first delivery. Considering the movement both the batsmen decided to spend some time on the crease but in the second over Al-Amin uprooted Dhawan's off stump with an in swinging delivery. It was a rare failure for Dhawan since Australian t20I series. Sharma hit the first boundary in the same over after Dhawan's wicket. On the other end Kohli was struggling to find the middle. India was off to a poor start. In the fifth over, Kohli tried to break the shackles but ended up giving a simple catch to Mahmudullah at long off. Then Raina joined Sharma in the middle. He was struggling as well with the swing but he decided to play his shots from the sixth over itself. Raina hit couple of boundaries in that over and tried to give momentum to India.
Spin was introduced in the eighth over of the innings. Raina tried to take advantage of that but he was knocked over by Mahmudullah. Yuvraj was sent in at no. 5. Yuvraj, since his comeback had not spent much time in the middle and his form before the world cup is very crucial. In this match, he got the opportunity to spend some time in the middle and gain his confidence back. He did exactly the same. He steadied the ship with ones and twos along with Rohit Sharma. He ensured that India didn't give away any other wicket. At the of tenth over, India's score was 52-3. To win the match India needed to score 10 an over from that stage. Hence Rohit Sharma started to attack Bangladeshis. In that proccess he offered a catch at gully on the 2nd ball of the 11th over but Shakib Al Hassan didn't hold on it. Then Rohit Sharma became Raw-hit Sharma. He hit two fours and a six in that over and began his counter attack. Seeing that Yuvraj was only rotating the strike and Rohit Sharma was hitting the boundary every over. In fifteenth over, Rohit Sharma reached to his half century and was looking most comfortable on the crease.
Yuvraj also decided to go for big shots in that over and he even middled one but only managed to find Soumya Sarkar in the deep. He got out after making 15 runs off 16 balls. The partnership between him and Rohit Sharma led the foundation of the compatible total. Hardik Pandya came out to bat ahead of Dhoni then and all of the sudden that green top became batsman's paradise. Rohit Sharma's bat was producing raw hits and Hardik Pandya was playing as if he had a sword in his hands. By the end of eighteenth over, India reached to a total of 150 and that stage 170 was looking good but Mustafizur bowled a tight 19th over & it created pressure on both the batsmen. As a result Rohit Sharma got out in the last over and Hardik Pandya also threw it away. Then Dhoni dispatched last ball of the innings for a six to take India's score to 166.
In reply Soumya Sarkar and Mithun Ali came out to chase that score. It was a surprise to see Mithun Ali ahead of Imrul Kayes. Dhoni gave the new ball to Ashish Nehra as there was movement in the track. Ashish Nehra was right on the money from ball one. He was not able to take a wucket in his first over but he started his second over by knocking over Mithun Ali. Bangladesh was 9-1 after 2.2 overs. In fourth over of the innings, Bangladesh lost its second wicket on the score of 15 runs. Then there was cautious partnership between Sabbir & Kayes. They took the total to 50 run mark in tenth over of the innings. By that time required rate climbed and reached to 11 R.P.O. Kayes decided to break free. He went after Ashwin but only managed to find Yuvraj in the deep. Sabbir got his eye in and started expressing himself. He hit Pandya and Ashwin couple of huge sixes and gave some sort of hope to Bangladesh.
Required rate went over 12 after twelve overs. In thirteenth over, Shakib found himself in the middle of the pitch. He kept running after hitting the ball on the leg side. There was no response from the non striker. Dhoni took the bails off after collecting the throw from Rohit Sharma. And Bangladesh lost its fourth wicket. Required rate reached 14 R.P.O by the end of fourteenth over. Dhoni gave the ball to Hardik Pandya and Sabbir went after him but he only managed to hit one high in the air. Dhoni completed a simple catch and Bangladesh was 5 down. Mushfiqur & Mahmudullah took Bangladesh's score to 100 run mark. Mahmudullah threw his wicket away at the score of 100. After Mahmudullah, Mortaza gave a simple catch to Jadeja at gully and Ashish Nehra was on a hat-trick. He missed the hat-trick but India won the match comfortably. Bangladesh managed to score 121 runs of their 20 overs. They lost the match by 45 runs and India started the Asia Cup with a win.
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