Mashrafe Mortaza inspired Liton Das from the dressing room to carry on and convert his knock into a big one

Bangladesh opener Liton Das did a Mohammad Shahzad against India in the final of the Asia Cup 2018 by slamming a hundred even as wickets fell at the other end. It was the 23-year-old’s first international hundred though it was a restrained reaction from the batsman as he ran for his 100th run in the high-voltage clash. Bangladesh were off to a flying start in the final before losing five wickets for 31 runs.

However, Das’ feat also had a contribution from his captain Mashrafe Mortaza. When the opener got to his fifty, the 34-year-old who has been one of the best skippers for the national cricket team walked out to the gallery of the dressing room and gestured to the young batsman asking him to convert it into a big inning and he obliged. Mortaza was also seen showing the logo of Bangladesh Cricket Board on his shirt.

Bangladesh were invited to bat first by Indian captain Rohit Sharma after he won the toss in the final which is being played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. In the absence of dashing opener Tamim Iqbal, the Men in Green banked on the opening duo of Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (32) and the two delivered by putting up 120 runs inside 21 overs. But it was after Kedar Jadhav picked up Miraz that Bangladesh saw a mini collapse and lost wickets in a heap.

Liton Das was fighting a lone battle

Das, however, was standing firm at his end and was batting on 105 off just 97 balls at the time of writing this report. He hit 11 boundaries and two sixes with a strike rate of 100-plus and needed solid assistance from the other batsmen to take his side to a formidable total. Wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim who is in good form in this Asia Cup, fell for just five while Mahmudullah perished for four.

The Indian bowlers came back well into the game with Jadhav taking a couple and Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav taking one each. The other spinner, Ravindra Jadeja, though did not take any wicket till then but effected a magnificent runout to check the Bangladeshi run flow.

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