Asia Cup 2018: Virender Sehwag all praise for spirited Bangladesh team after nail-biting final

Prior the final of the 2018 Asia Cup between India and Bangladesh at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Rohit Sharma’s men were deemed to be the firm favourites to comprehensively win the championship, however, Mashrafe Mortaza and Co came out all guns blazing. India undoubtedly emerged victorious by three wickets, but they were given a run for their money.

The encounter went down to the last delivery and unfortunately, Mahmudullah couldn’t defend six runs. To add insult to their injury, the Tigers slumped to their second defeat in a final against the Men in Blue in over six months. Losing the toss didn’t fizzle out Bangladesh’s spirit by any means. Rather, their openers- Liton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz put on 120 runs for the opening wicket.

Bangladesh stumble at the finishing lineup

Liton demolished the Indian bowlers with his maiden ODI century and was eventually dismissed by chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, just when his team needed him to press the accelerator. Mortaza’s men could only post 222 runs and were well and truly on the backfoot. India lost wickets at regular intervals and found themselves in precarious positions at various phases of a match.

In the death overs, some resolute performances from the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took India over the finishing line. In the meantime, Virender Sehwag, the former Indian cricketer, hailed the Bangladeshis for their spirited show. Moreover, he also mentioned that India need to go back to the drawing board in order to get better.

He took to Twitter and wrote, “So near yet so far from Bangladesh. Congratulations to Team India on winning the #AsiaCup2018 . Hats off to Bangladesh for such a spirited fight despite missing key players. India have a lot of areas to work upon despite winning this & I am hopeful, they will get better. #IndvBan,”

Here is Sehwag’s tweet

So near yet so far from Bangladesh. Congratulations to Team India on winning the #AsiaCup2018 . Hats off to Bangladesh for such a spirited fight despite missing key players. India have a lot of areas to work upon despite winning this & I am hopeful, they will get better. #IndvBan

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) September 28, 2018

For more news and developments, stay tuned on CricTracker.com.