Enigmatic India held their nerves to seal the Asia Cup after beating Bangladesh in a thrilling encounter.  The Indian team led by Rohit Sharma won the trophy a record seventh time. India sent Bangladesh to bat, who managed just 222/10. This was despite opener Liton Das scoring a magnificent century (121).
India in pursuit of 223, were reduced to 160/5, but there were some important cameos from the lower-middle order batsmen, who helped clinch a close game that came off the last ball of the innings.
India handed the pressure well both during bowling and batting. And that somewhat just did the trick in the end. This was the second last-ball win by India in a multiple-team tourney this year.
The last time they won was the Nidahas Trophy 2018 when Dinesh Karthik finished it off. That win had also come against Bangladesh.
As India emerge victorious in a wonderful manner, here we do a statistical analysis of the final that was played in in Dubai in the UAE.
Bangladesh miss out after dream start – The stats
Bangladesh added 120 runs for the opening wicket, but from there on managed a paltry 102. Liton Das smashed 121 off 117 balls, with the rest of the other 10 Bangladeshi players managing just 101 runs between them. The Tigers lost 10 wickets for 102 runs.
Ton-up Liton Das amasses a host of records
- Bangladesh opener Liton Das scored the second highest individual score in an Asia Cup final.
- Das also amassed the best individual score by a Bangladeshi player against India in ODI cricket.
- He is only the third Bangladeshi to score a century against India in ODIs after Alok Kapali (2008) and Mushfiqur Rahim (2014).
- The dazzling opener also became the fifth batsman to score a ton in Asia Cup finale.
- The others in this list were, 1)Â Marvan Atapattu v Pakistan, Dhaka, 2000, 2) Sanath Jayasuriya v India, Karachi, 2008, 3) Fawad Alam v Sri Lanka, Dhaka, 2014, 4) Lahiru Thirimanne v Pakistan, Dhaka, 2014.
Mehidy, Liton spice it up
- Spinner Mehidy Hasan became the first Bangladeshi player to open the batting and bowling for the team in an ODI match.
- His opening partner Liton slammed the highest individual score for Bangladesh in an international knockout match.
- Das eclipsed Sabbir Rahman (77).
- Mehidy and Liton’s 120-run knock is the highest in an international knockout match by Bangladesh. They had achieved the same in just 20.5 overs.
- Mehidy, who generally bats lower down the order, opened the batting for the first time in his career. It was a tactical approach that made the dividends.
Master Dhoni a class behind the stumps
- India’s senior wicket-keeper MS Dhoni, enjoyed another day behind the stumps. Dhoni, who notched two stumpings in the game, has the most number of stumpings in Asia Cup ODIs (10).
- The former India skipper also equaled former Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara to account for 36 dismissals as a keeper in the Asia Cup.
- MSD also became the third ever wicket-keeper in the world to achieve 800 dismissals in international cricket across all formats.
- He joined Mark Boucher and Adam Gilchrist in this stupendous feat.
Dhawan ends as highest scorerÂ
- Shikhar Dhawan ended as the highest scorer of the Asia Cup 2018 with 342 runs.
- Dhawan also is the 4th highest run-scorer for India in the Asia Cup ODI history.
- Suresh Raina leads the list with 372 in 2008.
- Dhawan’s strike partner Rohit, who scored 48, missed out on his fourth successive 50+ score in the Asia Cup 2018.
- The Mumbaikar also missed out on becoming the first Indian skipper to score four consecutive 50+ scores.
- Rohit finished 2nd in the scoring charts with 317 runs.
- Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim was the third highest with 302 runs.
- In the bowling segment, Kuldeep Yadav, Rashid Khan and Mustafizur Rahman picked 10 wickets each to end as the top wicket takers.
Team stats – India
- This was India’s 3rd ODI tournament win off the last ball of the match.
- This feat is also a record held in this format.
- India overcame Pakistan (2) to become the new record-holder.
- This was the 2nd time in an ODI final of a tournament that a team won the match off the last ball.
- Earlier, Pakistan beat India in Sharjah, 1986.
- This victory marked India’s 36th win in Asia Cup history.
- The feat also ensured India’s 700th win in international cricket.
- They are only the 3rd team to do so after Australia and England.