Stunning victory for Bangladesh vs. India besides 100th ton by Sachin Tendulkar – Asia Cup 2012

Bangladesh 293-5 (Tamim Iqbal 70, Nasir Hossain 54, Jahurul Islam 53, Praveen Kumar 3-56) beat India 289-5 (Sachin Tendulkar 114, Virat Kohli 66, Mashrafe Mortaza 2-44) by five wickets.

Bangladesh huliliated India in the Asia Cup 2012
Bangladesh huliliated India in the Asia Cup 2012

India was astonished by a brave assault from the Bengal tigers who clinched a cliff-hanger by five wickets well led by Mushfiqur Rahim in the Asia Cup 2012.

India scored reasonable 289 runs after losing five wickets in the allotted 50 overs and Bangladesh went past their total by smashing 293 runs with four balls to spare for the loss of five wickets.

Shakib Al Hasan was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his timely innings which escalated the run rate.

The fourth match of the tournament was played at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on March 16, 2012.

Earlier, Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and offered the batting to India while preferring to chase the target. Sachin Tendulkar was searching for his 100th hundred and came in to bat with the hope to achieve the magical figure in the match with the promising Gautam Gambhir as Mashrafe Mortaza opened the attack for the home side.

The blue shirts suffered an early blow when Gambhir was bowled by Shafiul Islam for 11 as 25 runs were put on board. The fall of wicket brought in a thundering , in form batsman, Virat Kohli and the duo opted to attack the rival bowling instead of compromise.

Tendulkar was more aggressive and almost punched one boundary in the following overs and completed his fifty in the 19th over. Kohli kept on consolidating at the other end and the flow of runs was continued from both sides. He dispatched his fifty on the fourth ball of the 29th over and the proceedings were captured by both batsmen. Mushfiqur deployed seven bowlers to dislodge the partnership but they were unable to get the breakthrough.

The duo contributed a valuable partnership of 148 runs for the second wicket when Kohli was bowled by Abdur Razzak for 66 and another youngster Suresh Raina replaced him. The rhythm was continued and Sachin Tendulkar smashed his 100th hundred in the 44th over which was applauded by the entire crowd, players and the officials.

He was gone after scoring 114 runs off 147 balls with one six sand 12 fours at 259 and Raina followed him at the same total for 51 off 38 assisted with one six and five fours. The Blue Shirts managed 289 runs for the loss of five wickets at the end of the 50th over.

Mashrafe Mortaza was the top wicket taker with two while Shafiul Islam and Abdur Razzak claimed one wicket.

Bangladesh lost an early wicket at 15 but Tamim Iqbal and Jahurul Islam decided to play an offensive cricket as the pace of runs was kept alive all the times. The first hundred of the innings was scored in the 24th over and Tamim achieved another fifty of his career in the next over.

Juhurul Islam dispatched his maiden fifty on the third ball of the 27th over but lost his wicket for 53 after associating 113 runs partnership for the second wicket. Nasir Hossain joined in with Tamim and both of them kept their march towards the target. Nasir got life at 18 when he was dropped by MS Dhoni off Praveen Kumar on the first ball of the 34th over but Tamim was gone on the fifth ball for 70 runs.

The third wicket fell at 156 runs which brought in a fighting all rounder, Shakib Al Hasan who does not carry the word surrender in his dictionary. He punished Ashok Dinda for 17 runs in the 37th over which included a six and two fours and hunted Irfan Pathan for nine runs in the 41st over.

Shakib scored a quick fired 49 off 31 balls with 2 lofty sixes and 5 fours when he was smartly stumped by Dhoni off Ravichandran Ashwin. The fourth wicket was down at 224 runs on the fifth ball of the 42nd over as their tiger Captain, Mushfiqur Rahim appeared on the scene as Nasir was hitting odd boundaries at the other end.

The Bengal Tigers had scored 257 runs at the end of the 47th over and still 33 runs were required from 18 balls. Irfan bowled the 48th over and was murdered for 17 runs which included two consecutive towering sixes from the willow of Mushfiqur. The skipper dispatched a four followed by six in the first two balls of the 49th over from Praveen Kumar as Nasir was gone for brave 54.

Mahmudullah scored the winning four on the second ball of the 50th over as the crowd erupted and was thrilled with the performance of their heroes.

Mushfiqur Rahim remained unbeaten for 46 off mere 25 deliveries with three huge sixes and even fours as Bangladesh achieved the target by smashing 293 runs with five wickets still in hand.

Kumar was the main striker with three wickets as Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja claimed one wicket.

The Bengal Tigers won the thrilling encounter by a good margin of five wickets as India kept wondering.


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