Dhawan muscles India to sixth Asia Cup crown

He came in at the end of the fourth over when Sarkar fell for a nine-ball 14, which included back-to-back fours off Ashish Nehra. The first was hit brutally down the ground, almost knocking Tamim Iqbal out, while the second was swung over the short fine-leg fielder.

Tamim fell soon after, and Sabbir turned the strike around as Shakib, passed fit following a training injury on Friday, got going. Shakib had had a quiet Asia Cup but on the big day, he raised the pitch with strokes powerful and delicate, scoring 21 from 16 balls before top-edging a sweep off R Ashwin to Bumrah at short fine-leg.

Mushfiqur Rahim was then run out, and surprisingly, Mashrafe Mortaza came in ahead of Mahmudullah, backing his muscles over Mahmudullah’s class. Mortaza was out caught at cow corner first ball, allowing Mahmudullah to do his bidding.

For India, Bumrah did everything expected of him and more. His first over, the third of the innings, went for three runs as he moved the ball around, touched the 140-kph mark, and got bounce. Only three runs came off his next over as well. And then, bowling the last over, Bumrah speared them in, cramping the batsmen for room, and sent in one perfect surprise bouncer while giving away just seven runs.

Nehra and Pandya were expensive, Ashwin was economical – 1 for 14 – after bowling the first over of the innings and finishing up by the 11th over. Ravindra Jadeja did his bit too, with 1 for 25 but Bumrah stood head and shoulders above all of them.

In the end, that made a bigger difference than Mahmudullah’s heroics.

The other heroes of the night were the ground and the ground staff that look after it. There was 80 minutes of rain – torrential at times – but within an hour and a half of the last drop, the ground was ready for action. The fabled drainage at the Sher-e-Bangla is no myth.