Man of the match: Shahid Afridi
Man of the series: Shakib Al Hasan

Mirpur, Bangladesh: Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by two runs in the final of Asia Cup cricket tournament at the Sher-E-Bangla National Stadium.

In a match which riveted fans to the final ball, Pakistan tallied 236-9 in its 50 overs, then stalled Bangladesh on 234-8 in a raucous Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Misbah-ul-Haq said “Wonderful victory. We were in trouble but well thought by all the guys, specially the youngsters. The innings of Sarfraz Ahmed was vital and Hammad Azam, Umar Akmal and Afridi did well. In the end, it was a team victory. The pitch was on the slower side and we thought that if we reached 220, we could fight it out and everyone did well. I must congratulate the Bangladeshi team. They played really well and this is a different Bangladeshi unit. In reality, they are the true winners”.

Shahid Afridi, Man Of The Match, said “I think, the guys really did a good job. But the Bangladeshi team really played great cricket. I was not doing well with ball or bat in this tournament but I kept confidence in myself. This is cricket and Bangladesh have surprised everyone. They have done well in this tournament thanks to Tamim, Shakib and Nasir. Hopefully, I can continue to do better”.

Shakib Al Hasan, Man Of The series, said “Yeah, I thought, if you look at the overall tournament, we were terrific. It wasn’t only about me or Tamim but it was a team effort. The crowd supported us well. All I can say to my team that it was a great effort and hopefully we can kick on from here. Yeah, I played well but could not win the game for my side. Had I scored 2 runs more, we would have won. It is not a joke for us and we will learn a lot from this”.

Mushfiqur Rahim said “Before this tournament, we knew that it would not be an easy one but we wanted to work hard. Definitely that last over from Shahadat was the crucial point, I thought. A great tournament for Shakib, Tamim, Mashrafe and Razzak. So, there are plenty of guys who put up their hand. So hopefully, Inshallah, it will turn into many wins in the future. We played all the games with fight but unfortunately, could not finish it tonight. Wickets of Tamim and Shakib were the turning points. Yes. The crowd supported us”.

Scorecard

1st Innings:-

Batting:

Extras: 18 b:2 lb:8 nb:4 w:4

Bowling:

2nd Innings:-

Batting:

Extras: 11 b:0 lb:5 nb:2 w:4

Bowling:

Pakistan team: M Hafeez , U Gul, S Ajmal, S Afridi, A Cheema, Hammad Azam, *Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Nasir Jamshed, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed.

Bangladesh team: M Mortaza, Nazmul Hossain, A Razzak, Shahadat Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Jahurul Islam, Nazimuddin, T Iqbal, *M Rahim.

Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka: 

Pakistan however have not really taken the world by storm in this tournament, and despite the fact that they were the first team to arrive the final, they have not performed to the best of their capabilities. They directly defeat Bangladesh in the competition, thanks to Umar Gul’s heroics and although they came up with a clinical win against Sri Lanka, they were given a paddling by Indian in their last league match.

Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, and Nasir Islam are in good form and they will have to carry their form in the final match to help Bangladesh against solid bowling attack of Pakistan.

In the last match against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh bowlers performed very well and bowled out Sri Lanka in 232 runs. The fielding was also top class.

Bangladesh presentation in league matches of asia cup-2012:

Mar 20 2012: Beat SL by 5 wickets
Mar 16 2012: Beat India by 5 wickets
Mar 13 2012: Lost to Pak by 21 runs

Pakistan’s presentation in league matches of asia cup-2012:

Mar 18 2012: Lost to India by 6 wickets
Mar 15 2012: Beat Sri lanka by 6 wickets
Mar 13 2012: Beat Bangladesh by 21 runs

Pitch and Conditions: The wicket and conditions in Mirpur have offered an undue advantage to the sides batting second, hence the toss could be crucial once again in this all important final. Nevertheless, if the rain stays away, we could be in for an exciting contest.

Bangladesh squad(probable): Mushfiqur Rahim(c & wk), Anamul Haque, Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Nazmul Hossain, Shahadat Hossain, Tamim Iqbal, Abdur Razzak, Elias Sunny, Jahurul Islam, Mashrafe Mortaza, Nazimuddin, Shafiul Islam, Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir Hossain.

Pakistan squad(probable): Misbah-ul-Haq(c), Umar Akmal(wk), Sarfraz Ahmed, Aizaz Cheema, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Younis Khan, Abdur Rehman, Asad Shafiq, Hammad Azam, Nasir Jamshed, Wahab Riaz.

1st Innings

Man of the match: Shakib Al Hasan (56 Runs/46 Balls and 2 wickets).

MIRPUR: Three early Bangladesh wickets chasing a target of 212 in 40 overs, after a rain break, had given India hope. Then, Tamim Iqbal’s termination smashed his ensuring partnership with Shakib Al Hasan and then the latter fell leg-before to Sachithra Senanayake with the hosts requiring another 77 to win, departing India still expecting.

But Bangladesh revealed enough resolve of to defeat Sri Lanka by five wickets with 18 balls to be left to cruise into the final of the Asia Cup.

Shakib Al Hasan said “Very proud the way we played. We expected the crowd to support and they did well. Nothing better than being a part of the winning team. Hopefully we will do it in the finals as well. It was a collective effort but upfront Nazmul bowled well. Tamim also batted nicely and it was a team effort. Mahmudullah and Nasir played a terrific innings. It’s gonna be a big game against Pakistan but nothing is impossible for us”.

Mushfiqur Rahim said “It’s been a great tournament for us and a good effort today as well. The boys chipped in when required and Nazmul performed in the do-or-die game. Playing in the Asia Cup final is a big achievement and hopefully, we will cross the last hurdle. Thanks to the crowd for their support and hopefully they will come in the final too and cheer us”.

Mahela Jayawardena said “One needs to keep that consistency. We didn’t play to our potential and made a few mistakes right from first game. The wicket was slow but it got better with rain around in the second innings. We had our opportunities but some wayward bowling cost us the game. It will be a different outfit in Tests against England and we will look to execute our plans well. In ODIs, we need consistency. Bangladesh have done well as a team and all the best to them for the finals”.

1st innings:-

Batting:

Extras: 11 b:0 lb:3 nb:0 w:8

Bowling:

2nd innings:-

Batting:

Extras: 20 b:0 lb:13 nb:0 w:7

Bowling:

Bangladesh team: M Mortaza, Nazmul Hossain, Shahadat Hossain, A Razzak, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Jahurul Islam, Nazimuddin, T Iqbal, *M Rahim
Sri Lanka team: L Malinga, N Kulasekara, S Lakmal, S Senanayake, F Maharoof, T Dilshan, L Thirimanne, C Kapugedera, U Tharanga, *M Jayawardene, K Sangakkara

Sri Lanka Batting Score Card

Fall of wickets:1-19 (Jayawardene), 2-29 (Sangakkara), 3-32 (Dilshan), 4-120 (Thirimanne), 5-169 (Kapugedera), 6-175 (Maharoof), 7-183 (Kulasekara), 8-204 (Tharanga), 9-230 (Malinga), 10-232 (Lakmal)

Bangladesh Bowling Card

Bangladesh to play for finals, Sri Lanka for India and pride

Indian fans are having Deja vu as the Sri Lanka and Bangladesh meet in the sixth ODI of the ongoing Asia cup 2012. Indian hopes of reaching finals of the tournament rests on the Sri Lanka’s win at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today. India was caught in the similar situation in the recently ended Commonwealth Bank Series where they were bound to pray for an Australian win in the last league match of the series against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is already out but still be looking to register their only win in the series in the tournament. Bangladesh on the other hand, gave some tuff timing in the opening competition of the cup and has the capability of making big turn arounds as they did by defeating the Indian team on Friday. Bangladesh is in must win situation as winning will take them to the finals while they will be out of the competition on loosing. Pakistan is already in the finals with highest points and will compete either India or Bangladesh to become the Asian champions.

Asia Cup Points Table

MIRPUR, Bangladesh:

If Bangladesh defeat Sri Lanka in one league encounter today, they will be same on the points tally with India and will qualify for the final by advantage of defeating Indian team in the league matches. The Indian team, of course, is expecting that a demoralized Sri Lanka, after failing out, will play one good game and help them go through.

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene said “We are not here to give any favours to anybody. All 14 are fit and we are going out to win the last match and leave on a high”.In fact, when a Sri Lankan reporter questioned why has the team lost so many games beginning from Hobart in Australia, Jayawardene got really excited. “Don’t talk to me like that. It happens some times, but we are not playing to lose” the skipper’s terms and competitive gestures body language should be good news for the Indian fans.

Bangladesh all rounder Mashrafe Mortaza said “If we start getting too tensed, then it won’t help us at all. We know we have played good cricket so far and if we can replicate our performance, we should be able to win”.

Mortaza said “Those are part-and-parcel of the game and we can’t do much about it. Our job is to concentrate on the job at hand”.

Mortaza said “Why the top-three? Every single player in this Sri Lankan line-up is dangerous. We may suffer if we take any of their players lightly”.

Point Tally:-

1st Innings

Man of the match: Virat Kohli (183Runs/148Balls)

DHAKA, Bangladesh: Virat Kohli scored 183 runs with Rohit Sharma including 68 and Sachin Tendulkar’s 52 to lead India to a six-wicket victory over Pakistan in the fifth ODI of the Asia Cup on Sunday.
Kohli gathered his total off 148 balls with 22 boundaries and one six.

He came in at third position after opener Gautam Gambhir was stuck lbw by Mohammad Hafeez for a duck on the second ball of the innings.

Chasing a target of 330, India cruised to 330-4 with 13 balls left it initially looked a difficult task against Pakistan’s bowling.

Umar Gul was the best of the bowlers, resulting figures of 2-65.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was unbeaten on 4 Runs along with Suresh Raina not out on 12 Runs.

Man of the Match Virat Kohli said “Well, I still can’t believe what happened out there. It was a crunch game and I’m happy to execute my plans for the team. We kept the wickets in hand and that was key. I am a big fan of Rohit Sharma, he is a brilliant talent and it was good batting alongside him. It’s a satisfying win. I said the one in Hobart was my best knock but I would rate both this knocks equally now. Pakistan have a great bowling unit and to be able to chase 330 against them feels extremely good”.

Indian captain MS Dhoni said “To start off, when they were batting we couldn’t do much. I used 8 bowlers, which isn’t a good sign but we knew the track would get better. We built partnerships after Gambhir’s wicket. Sachin batted well and Sharma played well too. Kohli took it away and he never really slogged any deliveries and played good cricketing shots. We have chased scores over 300 in the past and that gives us confidence. We have got the talent in both the departments and handling pressure is somewhat critical. I think they will just learn from such experiences and get better as they play”.

Misbah ulHaq said “I think they played wonderfully well. Tendulkar started well and Kohli played brilliantly after that. Credit goes to India, they batted well under lights. 329 is still a good score but credit to them. Kohli’s knock was one of the best I have seen. We are looking to be in a positive frame of mind in the finals”.

SCORECARD:

1st Innings:-

Batting:

Extras: 15 b:1 lb:3 nb:1 w:10

Bowling:

2nd innings:-

Batting:

Extras: 11 b:5 lb:1 nb:1 w:4

Bowling:

Pakistan won against Bangladesh, India lost to Bangladesh, Pakistan lost to India, Sri Lanka lost to India and Pakistan won over Sri Lanka. This has been the report so far in the Asia Cup. The win still doesn’t help India to qualify and if Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka in their game on Tuesday, Bangladesh will go through to the finals to meet Pakistan.

“Yes, I have to be sincere. I am human and I have emotions so I was disappointed. It does play on your mind,” Tendulkar told reporters at the post-match press conference after Indian lost match by 5 wickets.

It took Sachin 36 balls to go from 80 to 100 on Friday and his 114-run hit came off 147 deliveries but the expert insisted that personal milestone was the last thing on his mind.

“The hundred of was not the only thing on my mind. I was considering getting a good total for the team. When I looked out the scoreboard, I was looking at the run-rate and what we required to do; I was avoiding looking at my personal score,” he said.

“I was not looking at the scoreboard. I just took it one ball at a time and looked to do it for the team. Even after completing my century, my job was not done.”

Sachin, who endured a year-long wait to reach the 100th century, said the delay made him realise the value of a century and said that his patience was tested.

“After scoring 99 tons you are made to realise the value of a hundred. It’s not simple, it was a testing period, but there were many people who helped me.

“There are opinions, some for some against. I don’t read them, I have a job to do. Ups and downs are a aspect of life, there is no person who has not experienced it, and they teach you a lot in life,” he said.

“I am glad about the journey. It has tested my patience, my character. So many people have had questions, I don’t read any of them. Somebody who has not gone through this will have only questions, not answers.

If Sachin Tendulkar had to delay more than a year for the milestone, Bangladesh completed the wait of defeating indian which had gone over five years grabbing a thriller at Mirpur. With a total of 290 to chase down batting second, Bangladesh had their perform cut out. With Sachin Tendulkar spearheading the indian innings with 137-ball 114 ably supported by Virat Kohli (66) and Raina (51) at the death overs, Indian would have been satisfied with the total.

India had a consistent run amount of over 5 run per over throughout their innings. Bangladesh however began off rather slowly and seemed to be digging a hole for themselves as they managed only 38 runs in the first 10 overs as when in comparison to indian 49. In the next 10 they scored 46 as opposed to India’s 48. With the fall of wickets from both the ends curtailed to a large extend, during overs 21-30 Bangladesh scored 51 and indian 56. Next five indian got 15 and the hosts 27. The powerplay overs further saw Bangladesh accumulating 50 runs and indian, 34 runs. In the last 10, indian went on to make 86 and Bangladesh got 85 and prevailed with just four balls remaining.

Clearly, the match took an exciting turn during the powerplay overs, and the person at the helm of affairs was the former captain Sakib Al Hasan (49 off 31 balls) , He milked 18 off one Ashok Dinda over during the powerplay and from there on, the leading all-rounder Sakib and the talented youngster Nasir Hussain (54 off 58) moved their gears and later Mushfiqur Rahim’s classy yet aggressive approach saw them through.

Earlier, the base was set by a strong but rather slow partnership of 113 runs off 145 balls by Tamim Iqbal (70) and Jahurul Islam (53).

But, again among the milestone and some hefty hitting the bowlers were left a lot to desire. Praveen Kumar was the spearhead of the attack with Pathan and Dinda being the deputies. Though PK completed his quota of 10 overs with an economic climate of 5.60, his effective weapon of bananas ball was non-existent and ineffective. Irfan Pathan, given a second lease on life crumbled under pressure bowling good only in patches. Dinda however frustrated and he too was the reason of dropping it all in the loss of lifestyle overs go-karting hot complete includes. Dinda on the other hand disappointed and he too was the culprit of losing it all in the death overs bowling juicy full tosses. Dhoni might as well rethink his strategy of using part-timers in the middle overs after his band of tweakers returned with mediocre figures. Raina, Sharma and Jadeja’s combined 15 overs yielded 75 runs and just one wicket.

1st Innings

Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and invited India to bat in the fourth ODI of Asia Cup here at the Shere bangle National Stadium in Mirpur on Friday.

Bangladesh are unchanged side for this match while India have made one change in the side. Injured Vinay Kumar is rested and Ashok Dinda is in.

Tendulka scored the 49th ODI hundred when he too a single off Shakib al Hasan. Entire stadium and dressing room were on their feet to give standing ovation to the legendary batsman.

Tendulkar said, “Dreams always come true. Keep chase the dream” after the Indian innings .

Sachin Tendulkar said “It was a tough phase for me. I began the season well, but I was luckless. There was no real hype when I scored the 99th ton in the World Cup, but post that, the media blew it up. Wherever I went, everyone just talked about the 100th 100 and not the 99 scored earlier. It became mentally tough because I was not just playing for that milestone. In the end, I got to do what is good for the team. Happy to have done it. It was tough batting today and we had a score of 280-290 in mind, which we have achieved. (Gives a message) Chase your dreams because they definitely come true! I had to wait for one for 22 years. We won the World Cup – that was my dream. So keep chasing your dreams”.

Bangladesh team: M Mortaza, Shafiul Islam, Shahadat Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, A Razzak, Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Jahurul Islam, Nazimuddin, T Iqbal, *M Rahim

India team: Praveen Kumar, Ashok Dinda, R Ashwin, Irfan Pathan, R Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, S Raina, V Kohli, S Tendulkar, G Gambhir, *MS Dhoni

Batting:-

Extras: 18 b:0 lb:6 nb:2 w:10
Total: 289-5 (50) | RR: 5.78

Bowling:-

The Mumbai batsman, who has compiled more Test and one-day runs than anyone else in the history, Tendulkar, who is now in the 23rd year of his international career had been searching for this 100th century since 12 March 2011.

He scored the 99th century of his career against South Africa at Nagpur during the 2011 World Cup, but had failed to get atleast one century in his last 33 innings.

He recently received the ESPN Cricinfo award for the best individual Test batting performance of 2011. And not to forget, he was the leading run scorer for India in the ICC cricket World Cup 2011, and the second highest run scorer in the tournament after Dilshan.

Apart from his 100th ton, he scored 65 half-centuries in Tests while in ODIs he slammed 95 fifties.

List of centuries by Sachin against opponent:-