India vs Bangladesh, Asia Cup 2025: IND defeat BAN by 41 runs to qualify for final

It's quite surprising, but I take the preparation. All the credit goes to the boys, after ten overs they adjusted brilliantly. We can take lots of things from this game, we have another game tomorrow. We have to keep in mind that we can win tomorrow and play the final. Let's see what kind of combination we are going to go but we will give our best.

Well, there it is, folks, that's official, India is through to the final. Bangladesh has lost by 41 runs. It was a chase that, for a brief period when Emon and Saif were batting, was taking some shape, but Kuldeep, with his three, and Varun in his second spell with two, choked the batters through the middle phase. Bangladesh should feel it is an opportunity missed, and India will feel they have had a somewhat decent test before the final. A spare thought for Saif, who scored 69 and needed someone to support from the other end to take Bangladesh closer, which did not happen, unfortunately. Tomorrow's Bangladesh vs Pakistan is a virtual knockout. Do join us tomorrow for that clash. For now, we will be right back with the presentation after a small break.

Well, two more wickets and it is Kuldeep Yadav the bowler. The first one was Rishad Hossain, who skied one in the air, and Tilak Varma at cow-corner took the catch, and Tanzim, the following delivery, came in and gave a wild swing and lost his stumps. Kuldeep has three tonight. He did have a couple of okayish games, but today he has found his mojo. He has been extremely smart with his lengths and, more importantly, the execution has been sublime. Varun Chakarvarthy, too, who had a poor first couple of overs, made a good comeback in the next two. Once again, India's wrist spinners choke the opposition batters, and India are closing in on another win in this Asia Cup. After the first innings, this was a bit of tricky defence for them, while they bowled well, Bangladesh had their fair share of blame to take because of their ordinary batting. As we update Bumrah picks up Saif Bangladesh nine down.

Varun Chakavarthy has picked up Shamim here. Once again, it is that in-between length from him that did not work for him today, but on that occasion, he was able to bamboozle the batter. Shamim tried to drive the ball and lost his stumps. Jaker Ali is the new man in for Bangladesh. The way Saif is batting, Jaker Ali's primary role would be to support him. Rotate strike, build a partnership, and let him do the heavy hitting. One thing India needs to be wary of in this innings is that in the first innings, the batting got tougher and tougher, and in this innings, if there is dew, it might get easier and easier. As we update, Jaker Ali has been run out here and Bangladesh has lost five wickets. Saif tried to sneak a single and get to his fifty, and Jaker Ali, as a result, could not make it to the striker's end, and an excellent throw by the fielder there to the keeper resulted in that wicket.

Kuldeep Yadav has picked up Emon here. While sweeping against Varun might be a good tactic, against Kuldeep, it is a very hard ploy. Kuldeep is someone who works with flight and guile and tends to alter his length as well. We have seen in the previous game when he tossed a few up and realised that when there was not much turn in the wicket, he pulled back his length and started to bowl quicker and flatter, which is something he started doing in recent years. And now coming to the wicket, Kuldeep did not toss it up, and Emon had to sweep it from wide outside the off-stump, and the length was not there to sweep and was holed at mid-wicket. That is a timely wicket for India as the partnership was brewing nicely. Towhid Hridoy has walked into the middle.

India has started decently here. They have picked up Tanzid, who has had his issues against India. Bumrah is getting some swing with this new ball, which is not too often the case at this ground in the second innings. The biggest challenge for India in this defence will be the dew factor if it does come into play. The batting will get easier, and India is a very spin-heavy attack. Surya, in this series, has used Bumrah's three upfront and tried to choke the batters in the middle through spin, which might not be a good tactic today because of the dew, and the total India got having Bumrah to come at various stages of the game something which Mumbai Indians does or Rohit Sharma under his captaincy did might be a better way to go today.

This defence will be a test for India's mettle. While Surya and his men have come through in most situations in bilateral cricket, this is a simulation as close as they get to the T20 World Cup. If Bangladesh manages to get going in the powerplay, they should be able to get close, and if there is dew, they will fancy chasing these runs.

There is an old video that pops up on the reels these days, of Yuvraj Singh training with Abhishek Sharma with the latter seen smashing the ball.

Yuvraj pipes up, “single bhi le lo, Maharaj”. But more big hits follow and he says, “Tu na sudhri, bas chhakke maari jaayi, thale na kheli (you won’t change, just keep hitting sixes and not keep it on the ground”). (Read more from Tanishq Vaddi)

Saifuddin has come to bowl the final over. He has been quite expensive today, and this is the over India needs to make the most of. 180 will be a pretty good total on this surface, but India needs to bowl well. In the previous game, they have conceded 170 runs hence so it's still touch and go at the moment for India.

Bangladesh has been quite magnificent here since Abhishek Sharma has fallen. They have played the conditions quite smartly. It is easy to lose heads after the counter assault of Abhishek, but they kept their composure, and once the ball gets softer, it will get harder to hit, and they have bowled accordingly. They dug the ball into the surface and made the batters use their power to relatively long boundaries compared to some of the boundaries these batters are accustomed to in the Indian conditions.

India needs to build a partnership here. 200-210, what looked like a possibility is now a bit out of reach. Both Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya are quite experienced and would be accustomed to situations such as these and wickets like this. Mustafizur especially comes into his own in these stages of the game on wickets like this. If this duo can stay together till 16-17th, India can restart their hitting yet again. But for now, the need of the hour is a bit of smart shot selection and hard running between the wickets.

Abhishek has gone into overdrive now. He is striking at 202.70, which on this surface is an outstanding strike. It shows the form he is in, and also the bowling Bangladesh has thrown up. Well, as we update, Abhishek has got himself run out, and that is the only way Bangladesh could have gotten him with the form he was in. It was a silly wicket nevertheless; another fiery knock from the Punjab left-hander. Bangladesh will be relieved. India is still in an extremely good position here and should be looking to get around the 200-210 mark from here on. Hardik Pandya has walked into the middle for India now.

Nilphamari nourishes indigo, not cricketers. The district, where once the British tortured labourers to cultivate ‘Neel’, or blue gold, lies only 356 kilometres north of Dhaka. The journey, though, would take nearly eight hours, cutting through the congested traffic and sinuous roads. Ten kilometres from the district centre is Nijpara, a dot in a speck, home of Bangladesh wrist-spinner Rishad Hossain. (Read more from Sandip G)

Well, how quickly do things turn in this format of the game? India has shown and proven it yet again. Abhishek, who was a bit rusty in those first two overs, is gone berserk against Mustafizur and Saiffudin, who is another change Bangladesh made today. He is in place of Mahedi, who bowled quite well against Sri Lanka in the previous game. As we update, Shubman Gill has fallen here. Rishad Hossain tossed one up, and trying to hit one over long-off, he did not time it well and was holed out at the boundary. The wicket has fallen, but India has got to a flier here.

Well, it has been Shubman who has been the aggressor today for a change and not Abhishek Sharma. He is looking to take his chances against left-arm spinner Nasum, who has been quite accurate in the power play in this tournament so far. Abhishek Sharma, on the other hand, today has not found his range yet, but if he stays at the crease, that strike rate will turn around pretty quickly. One thing both these players have done here is they have not panicked in those opening two overs when the runs were not coming, and they have tried to play to the conditions.

Well, Bangladesh has made four changes, which is against the adage of never messing with a winning combination, which Bangladesh is up against today. But at least on paper, these changes are not as bad. Tanzim and Rishad are very good bowlers. Whether they challenge the skill-set of the Indian batters is something we will find out, but with them playing again tomorrow, it is important that they do play their cards well and rest the players in red zone in this heat, and the selections from them seem like they have got it almost right. As per Litton's absence, his captaincy has been quite good, but runs after the first game against Hong Kong have dried up.

We are looking at the seven games that have been played at this venue throughout the tournament. Five of them have been won while chasing. The two that were won batting first came from Pakistan; against the UAE and Oman. I think chasing has been the preferred option. That’s why Bangladesh have gone that way. But we do have a fresh surface. It’s got better and better as the tournament’s progressed, mainly because of that grass you mentioned on the surface. Otherwise, we’ve seen tracks in Dubai slow right down with spinners dominating. But this one’s held up nicely. And with the conditions being a little cooler, I think that might also play a role. The reason the fast bowlers have matched the spinners is because they’ve got some swing early on. So you have taken wickets with the new ball, wickets in the powerplay. And as the game has progressed what they’ve done very well is take the pace off. Once the ball gets older and softer, it grips the surface. It’s not just about the spinners. Slower balls from the seamers are equally important. There’s enough grass there for those slower balls to have an effect later this evening. Good surface, not too hot, runs on the board might still be okay.

Saif Hassan, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain, Jaker Ali(w/c), Mohammad Saifuddin, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman

We would like to bowl first. He (Litton) got injured during a practice session and unfortunately misses out on this crucial game. I am excited and looking forward to this game. We are doing really well as a team and we will try to give our best. We will try to restrict them and chase it down. Surface looks pretty good to bat. We have got four changes.

“It is extremely difficult to play back-to-back T20 matches, back-to-back ODIs. So it’s not a nice thing but again we are prepared, we have trained really hard. I think the guys are fit enough to handle the back-to-back game. But it is not a fair thing for any team to have to play back-to-back T20s. It’s a lot more difficult than people seem to think."

“Every team has the ability to beat India,” Simmons told reporters on the eve of the match. “The game is played on the day. It’s not what India has done before. It’s what happens on Wednesday. It’s what happens during that three and a half hour period. We will try to play as best as we can and hope to find chinks in India’s armoury. That’s the way we win games.”

“It’s more about his stance. He’s adjusted and slightly… He’s become more relaxed at the crease, not as tense and rigid. He’s able to access both sides of the ground. He’s able to get in really good positions. Doesn’t over-complicate the way in which he plays. He’s quite still at the point of impact,” he says.

“He plays the ball quite late. He presents a wonderful bat face. His head is in a beautiful, steady position. He watches the ball intently and can get himself in easy positions to be able to access various sides of the ground … It’s more mental for Abhi. He’s always been touted with lots of ability and skill, and now we’re seeing that start to flourish. That comes with mental toughness, a greater understanding of your own game.”

“I had the benefit of working with Yuvraj for a couple of years, especially in 2016. And one thing I was always impressed with Yuvraj was whenever I threw balls to him, how little he would try and still hit them for four or six. He was always about making sure he presented a full bat face, and was hitting the ball cleanly. Often, you’d throw balls to Yuvraj, and he would just be playing at what I’d call a tempo 1 or a tempo 2. A drop and run or a punch. In a game situation, Yuvraj could clear the rope as easily as anybody.”

“Imagine iss team mein KL Rahul nahi hain. Sanju Samson ke jage KL Rahul banta hain. Woh toh nahi hain. Patake deta hain, chipka ke.. sahi kisam ke. Toh yeh weak link tha apka Sanju Samson. Match ek over pehle gaya. Otherwise toh match itna late jan hi nahi tha. Abhishek rehta toh, shayad yeh match paach over pehle khatam kar deta.”

The Dubai Cricket Stadium pitch is usually slow and favors spinners, and no team has scored above 200 in the last three years. However, a heavy roller was used for the India-Pakistan match, making the pitch better for batting. Evening dew is also increasing, which could affect the bowlers.

With the way Shubman and Abhishek are going at the top and you've got your captain batting at three and the way Tilak played, we're really looking for a No.5. And we believe Sanju is the best man for that job and we've got no doubt that he'll figure out how to play that role in the future.

Saif Hassan, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Litton Das (c & wk), Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain, Jaker Ali, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman