Asia Cup final, India vs Bangladesh: A thriller, but with the same ending

On Friday, at the Dubai International Stadium, Mortaza initially flirted with the idea of giving the ball to Sarkar before changing his mind and bringing on Mahmudullah. The offie’s death-overs exploits at the Bangladesh Premier League prompted the move.

India had been handicapped by Jadhav’s injury. The batsman had earlier retired hurt but as things became tight, he returned. Jadhav was batting virtually on one leg. Mahmudullah’s job was to keep Kuldeep on strike, but he started off with a half-volley and allowed the left-hander to get to the non-striker’s end. Jadhav took another single next ball and then Mahmudullah once again bowled a little too full to Kuldeep to concede a double. Kuldeep couldn’t score off the fourth ball but in the fifth a mistimed slog earned one run and brought Jadhav back on strike. India had victory in sight — one run needed off the final delivery — which eventually came through a leg-bye. Once again, Bangladesh took India down to the wire. Yet again, they were the gallant losers.

This was now the third time in two-and-a-half years, when Bangladesh failed to get over the line against India, with victory knocking on the door. At the Nidahas Trophy final, they faced a Dinesh Karthik assault and lost the match by giving away 35 runs in the last two overs. At the 2016 World T20 group league match in Bangalore, Bangladesh had lost three wickets in three deliveries to go down by one run. Three final-ball defeats on the spin will hurt.

What was even more demoralising from Bangladesh’s point of view on Friday night was that India didn’t have a proven finisher at the crease towards the back end of their chase. Rohit Sharma got out in the 17th over. MS Dhoni departed in the 37th over. Without any competitive cricket after the limited-overs leg in England, the former India captain looked rusty in this tournament. In fact, when Dhoni was dismissed, India still had to score 63 runs. Jadhav would soon return to the pavilion for treatment and Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had been the last recognised batting pair. Big teams capitalise on opportunities. Given an inch, they take a mile.

Let down by batsmen

“I don’t read too much into the last-ball losses. It’s about the way we lost the plot in batting. After the start we had (a 120-run opening partnership), we should have taken the score to at least 260. Against India’s batting it’s very difficult to defend a total of 223. That we still managed to take the game to the final over was a positive. I think we have to learn so many things. We are struggling somewhere or the other in these tournaments. Today we made a good start but couldn’t go through… when we had it under control, we couldn’t capitalise,” Mortaza said after the match.

Liton Das’s maiden ODI hundred had put Bangladesh in the driver’s seat. From there on, a total in the range of 260-270 should have been a certainty. Mushfiqur Rahim was fresh from a match-winning 99 against Pakistan. He was the form player and his team looked to him to build on the start. But he hit a Jadhav long-hop straight to Jasprit Bumrah at deep mid-wicket. Mohammad Mithun was run-out next over, a dismissal that Rohit described as the turning point of the game. It was a stunning piece of fielding from Jadeja inside the ring, but Mithun was basically done in by his partner, Das, who had been ball watching. Mithun, too, was at fault, as he tried to take on India’s best outfielder.

“We wanted a partnership when Mushfiq, Mithun and Mahmudullah were batting. We were 120 in the 21st over. If we had played low-risk cricket for the next 14-15 overs, we could have added 60-70 runs for the loss of one wicket. Mushfiq couldn’t execute well. The run-outs also hurt. Intent doesn’t mean getting out playing big shots. You have to look after the batting after a good start. We should have scored 250-260 on this wicket,” Mortaza said.

Bangladesh top-order had contributed very little in the run-up to the final. Middle-order had been bailing them out. In the final, when the openers gave the team a flying start, the middle-order let the side down. To make matters worse, their three frontline spinners – Mehidy Hasan, Nazmul Islam and Mahmudullah – proved to be expensive in a relatively low-scoring game. “If our off-spinners bowled well, the scenario would have been different,” Mortaza admitted.

Bangladesh have gone past the stage of taking pride in close finishes. Yes, they lost Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan to injuries, but even with the two experienced players in side they had failed to get over the line in tight contests against India. They have about nine months to fix the problem before the World Cup.