India came out all guns blazing and played better than Bangladesh to qualify for the finals. India looked determined to do well and they came out all guns blazing in the powerplay overs. Put into bat first, India rode on Abhishek Sharma’s 75 and other players making useful contributions to take the score to 168/6 despite a valiant fight back by Bangladesh bowlers.
In reply, Kuldeep Yadav’s 3-wicket haul outshone Saif Hassan’s 69 as India who dropped multiple catches yet again came out victorious by 41 runs and it means the Pakistan-Bangladesh clash is a knockout clash. Sri Lanka are eliminated officially from the tournament.
Abhishek Sharma’s masterful 75 helps India finish with 168/6 in 20 overs.Â
Put into bat first, Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill came out to bat for India while Tanzim Hasan Sakib had ball in hand for Bangladesh. Sakib bowled a decent first over. Nasum Ahmed had ball in hand from the other end. Abhishek broke the shackles and hit the first boundary off the innings by hitting Nasum over deep backward point for a boundary. Sakib continued as Abhishek got a reprieve when captain Jaker Ali put him down when the batter was on 7 and the score at 10. Gill managed to get a triple to end the over.
Gill then took the attack to Nasum for a boundary through mid-on and then clubbed the bowler over deep midwicket for the maximum. Gill got a triple while Abhishek hit another maximum over long-on. Mustafizur Rahman came into the attack next as Abhishek greeted him second ball for the maximum over wide long-on. He hit him for another maximum as he slashed hard with the ball sailing over deep third man for the maximum.
Mohammad Saifuddin came into the attack to bowl the final over of powerplay. Abhishek hit him by converting it into a low full toss by coming down the track and lofting over cover point for a boundary. Abhishek then hit Saifuddin for a hat-trick of boundaries to end the powerplay as 17 runs came off the over. India had raced away to 72/0 in 6 overs.
Rishad Hossain came into the attack post the powerplay. Gill welcomed him into the attack with a boundary with a drive through the covers. Rishad bounced back and got his man as he got rid of Gill for 29 off 19 balls with 2 fours and a maximum to his name. He tossed it up full around the fourth stump line, slower through the air. Gill pressed forward and looked to smash it over the long-off fence. He mistimed it from the toe end of his blade. Sakib at long-off settled underneath it and took the catch. Shivam Dube was promoted to Number 3.
He got off the mark straightaway. Saif Hassan came into the attack next. Abhishek then reached his fifty in 25 balls even as Saif bowled a great first over. Rishad continued and got rid of Dube for 2 off 3 balls. Rishad from around the wicket bowled a tossed up delivery full around off-stump a googly from Rishad. Dube cleared his front leg and looked to smash it over the long-on fence. He sliced it aerially down the ground. Towhid Hridoy at long-off settled underneath it and took a comfortable catch. Captain Suryakumar Yadav came out to bat next and got off the mark.
Abhishek smashed Rishad by slog sweeping over deep midwicket for the maximum. Saif Hassan continued and bowled a miserly 10th over as India were well-placed at 96/2 in 10 overs when the players paused for the Drinks Break.
Saifuddin continued after the break as Abhishek smashed it straight down the ground over long-off for the maximum. The 100 came up for India in 10.1 overs. Abhishek smashed Saifuddin over extra cover for a boundary. Mustafizur Rahman came back into the attack and against the run of play, Abhishek was run out for 75 off 37 balls with 6 fours and 5 sixes to his name. Miscommunication brought about his downfall here. Hardik Pandya came out to bat next. The Fizz got his man as he dismissed Suryakumar Yadav for 5 off 11 balls.
Mustafizur bowled short and outside the leg stump as Surya went for the pick up shot across the line. There was a deflection watching it on the naked eye as Jaker did well to dive to his left to complete the catch. There was a big spike on Ultra Edge and the decision had to be reversed to OUT. Tilak Varma came out to bat next.
Hardik broke the shackles as he smashed it hard over long-off for the maximum. Nasum Ahmed returned to the bowling crease and bowled another miserly over. Tanzim Hasan Sakib came back into the attack. He removed Tilak Varma for 5 off 7 balls. He bowled it full and slow pitching on the off-stump line. Tilak leaned forward and mistimed the lofted flick shot across the line. He hit it off the toe end of the bat. Saif Hassan at midwicket boundary misjudged the ball but lunged forward and completed a low catch near the ropes. Axar Patel came out to bat next and got off the mark straightaway.
After 15 overs, India were pegged back to 132/5. Nasum continued and bowled a miserly over. The Fizz returned and burnt a review against Axar Patel for caught behind but there was no edge on the bat. Hardik Pandya hit Rahman for a boundary by smashing him over extra cover for a boundary. Tanzim Hasan Sakib came to bowl his final over as Hardik hit him over covers for a boundary. Sakib bowled a beamer and the free hit yielded a brace. Pandya then hit Sakib for a boundary through an outside edge between the keeper and slip fielder.
Mustafizur came to bowl the 19th over. Pandya hit him for a boundary inside out over covers. But the Fizz came back and did not concede a boundary. Saifuddin came to bowl the final over of the innings. Axar Patel completed 2000 runs in International Cricket but he struggled for timing. Hardik got out off the final ball of the innings for 38 off 29 balls with 4 fours and a maximum to his name.
He bowled a full length delivery outside the off-stump. Hardik stuck his feet in the crease and used his upper body and wristed to swing hard down the ground. He got the elevation but not enough distance as Tanzid Hasan took a simple catch at long-off. Axar Patel remained unbeaten on 10 off 15 balls as India finished with 168/6 in 20 overs. Just 4 extras given by Bangladesh bowlers.
The Bangladeshi bowlers came back well post the powerplay. Rishad Hossain was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/27 in 3 overs. Tanzim Hasan Sakib finished with 1/29 in 4 overs. Mustafizur Rahman finished with 1/33 in 4 overs. Mohammad Saifuddin finished with 1/37 in 3 overs. Nasum Ahmed finished with 0/34 in 4 overs. Saif Hassan gave away 7 runs in 2 overs. It meant that Bangladesh needed 169 runs to win the contest and upstage India in this crucial Super 4 game.
Kuldeep Yadav’s 3-wicket haul outshines Saif Hassan’s 69 as India win to qualify for the finals
Chasing 169 for the win, Saif Hassan and Tanzid Hasan came out to bat for Bangladesh. Hardik Pandya had ball in hand for India. Hardik bowled a decent first over. Jasprit Bumrah took the ball from the other end. He started with a bang as he dismissed Tanzid Hasan for 1 off 3 balls. Bumrah bowled a good length delivery around leg stump swinging across the batter. Tanzid looked to clip it away on the onside. He folded his bat a bit early. He got a leading edge which went straight up in the air. Dube settled underneath it at mid-on and took a simple catch. Parvez Hossain Emon came out to bat next.
Bumrah gave away 5 wides to the batting team. Saif took the attack to Hardik by getting a fortunate boundary through third man. Saif then hit Hardik down the ground for a boundary back past the bowler. Emon survived a close LBW appeal against Bumrah as umpire’s call saved the batter as India did not lose a review. Varun Chakaravarthy came into the attack next and was greeted with a boundary by Emon through deep backward square leg for a boundary.
Emon hit another boundary through a sweep to the midwicket region. Saif joined the party as he swept Varun over short fine leg for a boundary. Emon launched Bumrah down the ground over long-on for the maximum. At the end of the powerplay, Bangladesh were 44/1 and off to a steady start. Kuldeep Yadav came into the attack after the powerplay.
Kuldeep struck as he dismissed Emon for 21 off 19 balls with 2 fours and a maximum to his name. Full length leg break pitched outside the off-stump line from Kuldeep. Emon was down on one knee to slog sweep against the turn but got a big top edge high in the air. Abhishek at deep midwicket moved a few yards to his right and took a good safe catch. Towhid Hridoy came out to bat next.
He got off the mark straightaway. Axar Patel came into the attack. He bowled a miserly first over. Kuldeep too bowled a tight over. Saif Hassan broke the shackles as he smashed Axar over deep midwicket for the maximum. Axar then got rid of Hridoy for 7 off 10 balls. He bowled a full length delivery on the off-stump line spinning away. Hridoy got underneath it and swung across for a slog sweep. He smashed this off the bottom of the bat and knew it straightaway. The ball is lobbed high in the air with Abhishek running in from long-on to take the catch. Shamim Hossain came out to bat next as Bangladesh at the halfway stage of the chase were 65/3 in 10 overs.
Varun returned as Saif launched him down the ground for the maximum over long-off. Varun hit back getting rid of Shamim Hossain for a bronze duck. Varun bowled a full length delivery on the middle and leg stump a googly with little amount of turn. Shamim got forward looking to hit through the line in the off-side but played the wrong line all over and watched the stumps getting rattled. Jaker Ali came out to bat next. He got off the mark soon.
Saif was dropped by Axar off his own bowling. Saif then smashed the bowler down the ground for the maximum. Then Jaker was run out for 4 off 5 balls against the run of play. Mohammad Saifuddin came out to bat next. Saif then launched Axar down the ground over long-on for a maximum to get to his fifty off 36 balls. Saif again hit him over long-on for the maximum. The 100 came up for Bangladesh in 14 overs. Kuldeep bowled a brilliant 15th over as Bangladesh were 108/5 in 15 overs.
India started dropping catches as Saif was dropped down in the deep of Varun Chakaravarthy. Varun then dismissed Saifuddin for 4 off 7 balls. He bowled it flatter around fourth stump line. Saifuddin rocked back and looked to pump it over the long-on fence. He didn’t get enough power behind it from the southpaw as Tilak settled underneath it and took a simple catch. Rishad Hossain came out to bat next. He got off the mark. Saif was dropped again as Sanju Samson put him down off Varun.
Kuldeep struck again as he dismissed Rishad Hossain for 2 off 3 balls. Kuldeep from over the wicket bowled a tossed up delivery full around the middle and leg stump slower through the air. Rishad got down on one knee and went for the big slog sweep. He mistimed it straight up in the air as Tilak at deep midwicket settled underneath it to take the catch. Tanzim Hasan Sakib came out to bat next and was cleaned up by Kuldeep straightaway.
Kuldeep bowled a googly on a length around middle and leg stump. Sakib didn’t read the googly. He cleared his front leg and swung his bat across the line. He missed it on the outside edge and the ball crashed onto the top of the middle stump. Nasum Ahmed came out to bat next. Saif was dropped again off Kuldeep as Abhishek dropped him this time. Saif survived a stumping chance as well. Jasprit Bumrah returned to the attack as he got rid of Saif Hassan for 69 off 51 balls with 3 fours and 5 sixes to his name.
Bumrah from over the wicket bowled a length ball around the fifth stump line right in the slot for the batter. Saif went back and across and cleared his front leg and looked to smash it down the ground. He mistimed it from the toe end of the bat. He didn’t get enough elevation on that one as Axar settled underneath it at long-on juggled to take the catch on the second attempt. Mustafizur Rahman came out to bat next for Bangladesh. Shivam Dube came into the attack and bowled a lot of wides while Rahman heaved it away for a boundary to deep midwicket and long-on.
Tilak Varma came onto bowl the final over of the contest. He got rid of Mustafizur for 6 off 11 balls with a boundary to his name. Flatter outside off-stump, Mustafizur got deep in his crease and muscled it flat and hard down the ground. Axar Patel at long-off moved to his right and took the catch easily. Nasum Ahmed was unbeaten on 4 off 4 balls as Bangladesh were bowled out for 127 in 19.3 overs. 9 extras given by India.
Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/18 in 4 overs. He was ably supported by Jasprit Bumrah who chipped in with 2/18 in 4 overs. Varun Chakaravarthy chipped in with 2/29 in 4 overs. Axar Patel finished with 1/37 in 4 overs. Tilak Varma got a wicket for 1 run in 3 balls. Hardik Pandya bowled 2 overs for 14 runs and Shivam Dube’s only over went for 10 runs. So, India win by 41 runs and qualify for Asia Cup 2025 finals. Abhishek Sharma was awarded the Player of the Match award.
Turning Point of the match:Â
The turning point of the match came in the first innings. It was the third over of the innings as Abhishek Sharma was batting on 7 and India’s score was 10. Tanzim Hasan Sakib charged in as well and induced the outside edge of Sharma only for stand-in skipper and keeper Jaker Ali to put down the catch. It proved to be costly as Abhishek made 75 and helped India get close to 170. Had Abhishek got out, it would have been difficult for India to reach 160 and then it would have been a different ball game.
What Lies Ahead.Â
So, India are through to the Asia Cup 2025 finals. This means tomorrow’s clash on 25th September 2025 at 8 PM IST between Pakistan and Bangladesh will be a virtual knockout game as the loser goes back home while the winner will advance to the finals and face India.
Which team will come out in this battle of equals between Bangladesh and Pakistan? Only time will tell and we will have the answer soon.
Also Read: Asia Cup 2025: Abhishek Sharma’s 75 Takes India To 168/6