Asia Cup 2018: Ravi Shastri heaps praises on Rohit Sharma for his 'calm display'

Following India’s unheralded success at the recently concluded Asia Cup, chief national coach Ravi Shastri showered praises on skipper Rohit Sharma for his impeccable captaincy and for marshalling the troops well. Sharma put up commendable commitment both on and off the pitch as the Indian team lifted their seventh Asia Cup trophy in Dubai on Friday defeating neighbours Bangladesh by 3 wickets.

Rohit Sharma was bestowed with the captaincy reigns for the 6-nation tournament after regular skipper Virat Kohli was rested for the Asia Cup owing to a hectic tour of England.

Rohit was in top form right through the tournament and in the final too he scored a steady 48 despite losing two partners to keep India in the hunt. Reputed for his power shots and a rich repertoire of strokes, Rohit Sharma led from the front smashing 317 runs from 5 matches at a scintillating average of 105.66.

Lauding the 31-year-old, an elated Shastri said post-match after the win, “Rohit was a calming influence and it showed on his captaincy. To keep his intensity going even after the start they had, showed he was really cool in every aspect of captaincy, the bowling changes he made were really good.”

Match Details

Batting first, Liton Das scored a magnificent century to put the Tigers on the driving seat, before India’s unorthodox spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Kedar Jadhav wreaked havoc as Bangladesh were bowled out for a modest 222. Just when it looked like Bangladesh would make a match of it, things went downhill as they suffered a batting collapse, losing 10 wickets for 102 runs. 

Chasing a relatively low target, India lost two early wickets in Shikhar Dhawan (15) and Ambati Rayudu (2). But Rohit Sharma (48) along with Dinesh Karthik (37) steadied the run chase for India in the middle overs.

Riding on composed knocks from Ravindra Jadeja (33) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (21) under pressure, India defeated Bangladesh in a nail-biting encounter to clinch the Asia Cup for the second time in the row. 

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