India Wins the 2016 Asia Cup!

On March 6, 2016, the world turned their attention towards the 2016 Asia Cup as the finals were played between the host nation Bangladesh and India. Millions, if not billions, of people around the world have tuned on to see the greatest clash in cricket battled out between two competitive rivals.

Recently, The Bangladeshi National Cricket Team has been at their top form at home and has pushed India to its max. On their previous encounter Bangladesh came out victorious in a 2-1 ODI series over India in June 2015, making this finale as more intense and important for the visitors. The finals were played at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, where Bangladesh had the home field advantage.  Unfortunately, Bangladesh’s key player, Mustafizur Rahman, whom has taken Bangladesh this far due to his outstanding performances, will miss the match because of injury. It is a hard blow for the national team; however it won’t stop the team for striving for success. Throughout tournament, the Bangladesh National Team showed their dominance through their bowling techniques that surprised the visitors, skill, determination to win, and home field advantage.

2016 Asia Cup Logo Photo Credit: Asian Cricket Council

2016 Asia Cup Logo
Photo Credit: Asian Cricket Council

At the finals, Bangladesh proved that they were worthy for the cup by their tremendous bowling techniques and stopping India from scoring. As the smoke cleared out from the intense game, India triumphed as victorious  by scoring 122 points in 13.5 over’s compared to the close defeat of Bangladesh who scored 120 points in 15 over’s. Henceforth, this victory marked the great achievement of the Indian National Team who won their 6th Asia Cup. This year’s Asia Cup has proved to be different from past tournaments where this year the tournament was played in a T20 format with only 20 over’s per side.  India, the dominant team in world cricket has proved that even with shorten over’s from 50 over’s to 20 over’s, they can still bring in the same amount of runs/points.

Bangladesh started off batting, however due to a sluggish start, it was difficult for the host team to create chances and get points on the scoreboard.  With the fall of the starting batsmen’s, Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar, it would be difficult for Bangladesh score big against a strong team. Nonetheless, the determination and the desire to win lead them to score 122 points.

Moreover, India has still kept and proved their dominance in cricket as the best team. As India came in to bat and to chase  their target of 122 points, it was a calm and controlled chase for India where they never floundered thanks to the skills from the key batsmen in their line-up, where Shikhar Dhawan who made 60 points and India’s superstar Virat Kohli who made 41 points to seal the victory.