India win by 41 runs
India are in the final of Asia Cup 2025, where they will meet the winner of Thursday’s Super Four clash between Bangladesh and Pakistan. Sri Lanka are out of contention, and their game against India on Friday is a dead rubber.
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Bumrah gets Saif
An excellent innings, and also a charmed one, and Saif is finally dismissed. A catch finally sticks, though it's a juggling effort, and though the third umpire had to step in to check if Axar Patel stepped on the rope. He didn't. Looked to hit the returning Bumrah down the ground, but ends up slicing his shot a little.
He's out for 69 off 51 balls.
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Kuldeep goes bang bang
Kuldeep is on a roll here, and he's got two in two.
First, Rishad Hossain looks for a slog-sweep at the start of the 17th over, and ends up hitting it more high than far. One of those dipping Kuldeep wrong'uns that batters frequently misjudge the length of. He's caught at deep midwicket.
Next ball, another googly, another attempted leg-side swipe from a right-hand batter. This one is Tanzim Hasan Sakib, and he can't put bat to ball. Past the outside edge and hits off stump.
Bangladesh are eight down, and need 57 from 22.
Three balls later, another Kuldeep wrong'un produces another chance, but the top-edged sweep from Saif is put down by the diving Abhishek at deep backward square leg. Saif has been put down multiple times today - I've pretty much lost count.
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Six down
Saif Hassan is dropped off the first ball of the 16th over - Hardik and Dube converge on the ball on the leg-side boundary, and eventually it's left to Dube who puts it down. Then Saifuddin comes on strike, tries to go downtown against a quick, shorter-side-of-length ball from Varun, and can't clear the man at long-on.
Bangladesh have four wickets in hand, and need 60 off 28.
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Kuldeep tightens the screws
He took the important wicket of Emon, and he's only gone for 15 in three overs. What's been evident right through this tournament - and this third over - is the range of speeds he's now operating in. We know he's now bowling quicker on average, but we've been seeing in this tournament that the quicker end of his range has become even quicker - he's frequently firing them in at 92-94kph, and giving batters another thing to guess at. Bangladesh need 61 off the last 30 balls.
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Fifty!
Superb innings from Saif Hassan, and he's really showing off his six-hitting talent. A rare talent in Bangladesh cricket, and he's absolutely smoking them. Gets to his fifty off 36 balls with a straight loft off Axar Patel, and two balls later hits him for another, more difficult six, because Axar dangles it a bit slower and lands it slightly away from his reach. He gets down on one knee and manages to clear the long-on boundary comfortably despite seeming to slice his slog-sweep a little.
He's now hit five sixes in this innings. Bangladesh are 102 for 5 at the end of the 14th over. They need 67 off the last six overs.
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STOP RUNNING QUICK SINGLES IN T20!!!
Bangladesh are in big trouble now. Saif pushes Varun into the off side and hares out, looking for the single that will take him to his half-century. Jaker Ali responds to his call. It's a risky single because Suryakumar Yadav is closing the ball down in the covers, and just how risky becomes clear when SKY picks up and flicks and hits the stumps direct at the striker's end. The diving Jaker is nowhere near the crease.
Bangladesh are 87 for 5 in 12.3 overs.
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Varun gets Shamim
For the second time in two overs, Saif Hassan hits a six, takes a single, and watches the guy at the other end get out.
This time it's Shamim Hossain, who takes the kind of risk you don't want to take in T20. Getting caught on the boundary while looking to hit a six is an acceptable risk, but what Shamim was trying here was to give himself room and drive inside-out, a shot that would have needed to come off absolutely perfectly to be able to pierce the gap with enough power to get him four runs. That too against a bowler of Varun's pace, immaculate length, and ability to turn it both ways. Ends up exposing all his stumps and beaten on the outside edge by a wrong'un angled into him from round the wicket.
(To be fair to Shamim, I would have been applauding him if the shot had come off, but it just feels like a shot that needs too many things to go just right)
Bangladesh are 74 for 4 in 10.4 overs.
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Axar gets Hridoy
That's a very, very timely wicket for India. Towhid Hridoy doesn't quite get hold of a hit down the ground off Axar Patel, and holes out to long-on.
Two balls before that, Saif Hassan had hit a terrific six off Axar. Rocked deep in his crease to manipulate the length of a ball that wasn't genuinely short, and shovelled it with a bat that was more vertical than horizontal, over long-on. Saif is going to be very, very important for Bangladesh now. He's batting on 31 off 26, and Bangladesh are 65 for 3.
They need 104 off 62 balls.
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Kuldeep strikes
Takes him just two balls, and Emon's attempted slog-sweep ends up as a simple catch at deep midwicket. Don't think the length was quite right for the shot - a touch too short for it, plus Kuldeep pushed it through pretty quick. Looked like Emon was a little late getting into position - his back knee hadn't fully sunk to the ground yet when he played the shot, so he was a little off-balance. Bangladesh are 46 for 2 in 6.2 overs.
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Bumrah's third over
Once more Bumrah bowls three inside the powerplay, and on this occasion he was swinging it all over the place, so why not, but Emon gets a bit of payback for all those plays and misses in this third over. Only nine runs off the over, but six of them come via a startling leg-side hit, against the angle, off a good-length ball. Bangladesh are 44 for 1 in six overs.
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Sweeping Mr. Chakravarthy
Three sweeps - two square from the left-handed Emon, and one fine from the right-handed Saif Hassan - in the fifth over, off Varun Chakravarthy, and all three run away to the boundary, right off the middle of the bat. Impressive start against one of India's major threats. Bangladesh are 35 for 1 in five overs.
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Bumrah vs Emon
So far, this contest is eight balls long, and bat has met ball only twice. Bumrah is getting the ball to swing prodigiously - generally away from the left-hander, but with the threat of the other one always present - and Parvez Hossain Emon has looked all at sea, and has survived one tight lbw appeal, but he's still there. Bangladesh are 22 for 1 in four overs.
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Bumrah strikes early
India are swinging the new ball too, and Jasprit Bumrah's outswinger to the left-hander brings the breakthrough in the second over. Tanzid Hasan looks to wok him leg side, and sends a leading edge ballooning to Dube running in from mid-on.
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168 for 6
India 168 for 6 (Abhishek 75, Hardik 38, Rishad 2-27) vs Bangladesh
Abhishek Sharma continued his magnificent tournament, following up his 39-ball 74 against Pakistan with a 37-ball 75, but Bangladesh still held India to a total of 168 for 6 after sending them in.
India’s innings followed a pattern not unlike Pakistan’s against their bowlers on Sunday: a strong start followed by a dramatic slowdown when the ball became older and harder to time. India scored 95 runs in overs 4-11, when Abhishek ran rampant, and just 73 runs in the 12 overs either side of that stretch.
Bangladesh made things difficult for Abhishek and Shubman Gill with new-ball swing in the first three overs, and then by varying their pace and using the grip on offer when the ball got old. In between, Abhishek played an incandescent innings, hitting five sixes to jump up to joint No. 7 on India’s all-time T20I six-hitting charts. He has now hit 58 sixes in just 21 innings; Suresh Raina, with whom he drew level, hit 58 in 66 innings.
It’s a different sport now, and Abhishek lives on its cutting edge, and Bangladesh seemed to have no answers when he was cutting their bowling to ribbons. They could, however, have dismissed him for 7 off 8 in the third over, had the wicketkeeper held on to an edge off Tanzim Hasan Sakib, who came into an XI with as many as four changes and bowled brilliantly with the new ball, swinging it prodigiously while also hitting the deck hard.
The wicketkeeper who shelled that chance - and Bangladesh’s captain on the night - was Jaker Ali, standing in for Litton Das who was ruled out with a side strain.
That miss seemed to be costing Bangladesh dearly when India were 112 for 2 at the start of the 12th over. But a brilliant bit of fielding from Rishad Hossain - diving to his left to stop a dab from Suryakumar Yadav and springing up, ready to throw, in one motion - sent Abhishek back, run out, and changed the complexion of the game. India only scored 56 runs across their last nine overs. Hardik Pandya - who was out off the last ball of the innings for 38 off 29, did the bulk of the scoring.
Their slide looked worse for coming against the backdrop of batting-order changes that didn’t come off on the day. India promoted Shivam Dube to No. 3, and sent in Hardik, Tilak Varma and Axar Patel above Sanju Samson, who did not get to bat at all.
With batting usually a little easier in the second innings in Dubai, Bangladesh have a genuine chance of tripping India up and firming up their hopes of getting into Sunday’s final.
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The post-Abhishek slowdown
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That's overs 12-18. India have scored 43 for 3 in these seven overs, and that's including 14 runs off the 18th over, with Hardik Pandya hitting Tanzim for a couple of fours.
This innings is going much the same way that India's last two innings - against Hong Kong and Pakistan - went. Rapid start followed by the middle order finding things really difficult against the older ball. Conditions here in the UAE haven't been easy for anyone who's come in to bat in the middle overs.
Anyway, India are 155 for 5 in 18 overs.
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Tilak departs
A strange innings from India, this. And it's the returning Tanzim Hasan Sakib who strikes now - he bowled a superb first spell too. Now he bowls a slower ball that Tilak tries to muscle over the leg side, but can't manufacture enough power to clear the man at deep midwicket. India are 129 for 5 in 14.3 overs. And now it's Axar Patel who comes in ahead of Sanju Samson, who's now been pushed down to No. 8. At this point it makes sense because it keeps the right-left pair going, and there could be one or two more overs of spin to go.
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Sixy Abhishek
Mustafizur strikes, and Suryakumar goes for 5 off 11 balls. Short ball down the leg side, looks to pull, only manages to feather it through to the keeper. The umpire didn't pick up the edge at first, but Ultra Edge did, after Bangladesh reviewed. That's two wickets in the over, and IUndia are 114 for 4 in 12 overs.
Lots of reshuffling of India's batting order, by the way. Hardik Pandya came in at No. 5, and now Tilak Varma is in at No. 6. Sanju Samson's been pushed a fair way down.
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Rishad vs India
He's taken two wickets, and now Rishad Hossain has sent back the dangerman with an excellent piece of fielding at backward point. Sparks confusion between the two batters with a diving stop. There's a mix-up, and SKY sends Abhishek back even though he'd hared out quite a long way from the non-striker's end. Rishad throws to the right end, too, and even though Mustafizur completes the job in a really messy way - the hand without the ball hits the stumps first, and then the other hand, but the third umpire is satisfied he broke the wicket cleanly enough - Abhishek is run-out by a good distance.
Really terrific work from Rishad, though. A proper rolling dive to stop Suryakumar's dab behind the wicket, and he was up on his feet, ready to throw, in a perfectly balanced position, in an absolute flash.
India are 112 for 3 in 11.1 overs.
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Abhishek draws level with Raina
Launches the first ball after the drinks break, a slower ball from Saifuddin, clean as a whistle over the straight long-off boundary. That's Abhishek's fifth six today, and it's the 58th of his T20I career.
I'd mentioned Abhishek's absurd rate of hitting sixes earlier (scroll down for more). Anyway, he's now up to No. 7 among India's all-time T20I six-hitters. Draws level with Suresh Raina, who hit 58 sixes in 66 innings. Abhishek is playing his 21st T20I innings. It's a completely different sport now, and he's at its absolute cutting edge.
Anyway, next up - and a little distance away, for now - is Abhishek's mentor Yuvraj Singh, who hit 74 sixes in 51 innings.
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Rishad gets another
The promoted Dube lasts just three balls. Not sure he picked the wrong'un from Rishad, ends up sort of skewing it to the fielder at long-off. India are 83 for 2 in 8.1 overs.
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Fifty
Abhishek brings up his half-century off 25 balls. That's almost slow by his standards.
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Rishad breaks through
India keep going hard after the powerplay, as you'd expect from a side with all 10 wickets in hand. Gill slaps Rishad Hossain's first ball through the covers for four, but is dismissed off his next legal ball. He steps out, tries to go big down the ground, but doesn't quite get to the pitch of the ball. He's caught at long-off for 29 off 19. India are 77 for 1 in 6.2 overs.
And India promote their designated spin-hitter, even though it means they have a left-left pair at the crease. That's something they usually look to avoid. Shivam Dube walks in at No. 3.
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22nd T20I, 56 sixes and counting
Abhishek Sharma hits sixes at an absurd rate. Just look at this. He's already India's eighth-most prolific six-hitter in T20Is, and he's closing in on the guy at No. 7, and this is only his 21st innings. Look at who he's sandwiched between. Suresh Raina hit 58 sixes in 66 innings, and MS Dhoni hit 52 sixes in 85 innings.
Abhishek has hit three sixes already today. He hit two off Mustafizur Rahman in the fifth over, then a six and three successive fours off Mohammad Saifuddin in the sixth over. He's moved to 46 off 19 balls, and India end the powerplay at 72 for no loss. Remember how well Bangladesh started with the new ball? It's a distant memory now.
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Gill and Abhishek take down Nasum
Gill uses his feet to put pressure on the left-arm spinner right at the start of the fourth over, gets right to the pitch and drills him past mid-on for four. Then he does it again and launches him for a big six over wide long-on.
When Gill returns to the strike, Nasum drops a touch short - maybe a consequence of those two step-out hits - and gets cut for a three that would have been four on most outfields. This is a really, really slow one.
That brings Abhishek on strike for the last ball, and he needs no help from the outfield. Jumps out and frees his arms to send the ball soaring high and far over long-on. 21 off the over. India are 38 for no loss.
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Jaker drops Abhishek
Tanzim follows a superb first over with a superb second over. He's swinging it, but he's also hitting the deck hard, and he produces a genuine chance with the third ball. Creates uncertainty in Abhishek with the angle across; he expects this hard-length ball to maybe straighten into him, but it nips away, or just keeps going with the angle. Fences at it, gets a thick edge, and Jaker - not a regular keeper, remember - dives to his left and fails to hold on.
India end the third over at 17 for no loss. Signs that this is a slow outfield too - Gill clips the last ball of the over sweetly between mid-on and midwicket, but it slows down well before reaching the boundary, and he only gets three runs for the shot.
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New-ball swing
Tanzim Hasab Sakib is a genuine outswing bowler, and he found enough of it in the first over to beat Shubman Gill's outside edge twice.
Nasum Ahmed is a clever, skillful left-arm spinner and he found enough swing to get his arm ball swerving away from the left-handed Abhishek Sharma. Beat him once, produced an edge that flew over short third, and then got him jabbing one straight back, just far enough out of reach for it not to be a return-catch chance.
Good start from Bangladesh, but India's openers are still together. 10 for 0 after two overs.
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Bangladesh bowl, Litton misses out
Toss Bangladesh chose to bowl vs India
Jaker Ali, Bangladesh’s 12th T20I captain, won his first toss and chose to bowl in the Asia Cup Super Fours match against India in Dubai. Jaker stepped into the role - and also took over the wicketkeeping gloves - with Litton Das ruled out with a side strain.
With Litton out, Parvez Hossain Emon came back into the side and is expected to open alongside Tanzid Hasan, with Saif Hassan moving down to No. 3. Bangladesh made three other changes from the XI that beat Sri Lanka on Saturday, all to their bowling attack. Out went the offspinner Mahedi Hasan and seamers Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam, and in came legspinner Rishad Hossain, fast bowler Tanzim Hasan Sakib, and the seam-bowling allrounder Mohammad Saifuddin who plays his first match of the tournament.
India were unchanged as expected.
India: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Sanju Samson (wk), 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.
Bangladesh: 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Parvez Hossain Emon, 3 Saif Hasan, 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Jaker Ali (capt & wk), 6 Shamim Hossain, 7 Mohammad Saifuddin, 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Nasum Ahmed, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Tanzim Hasan Sakib.
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Two spin trios face off
We've all heard and spoken a lot about Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel. Today, though, could feature another impressive spin trio, in conditions perfectly suited to them. Bangladesh have Nasum Ahmed, Mahedi Hasan and Rishad Hossain - left-arm orthodox, offspin, legspin - and those three, perhaps, could be crucial to how tonight's Super Fours match pans out. And that's before we mention Bangladesh's fast spinner Mustafizur Rahman, who's had a terrific tournament so far. It remains to be seen, of course, if Bangladesh include all their spinners - Rishad didn't feature in their last game against Sri Lanka.
Either way, India are heavy favourites, but this is just the kind of team and contest they'll be wary of. Both teams have played one match each in this stage of the Asia Cup, and both teams won their respective matches. How tonight goes could give us a pretty good idea of the identity of one of Sunday's finalists.
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