India win Asia Cup in last ball thriller

Liton Kumar Das' brilliant maiden ton went in vain as India defeated Bangladesh by three wickets to clinch the Asia Cup for record seventh time at United Arab Emirates on Friday.

A middle-order collapse and dubious umpiring left Bangladesh dismissed for 222 runs 48.3 overs in the final and later despite some hiccups India reached 223-7 in 50 overs to break the heart of Tigers, as they failed to clinch the trophy after being in the final for the third time in the last four editions.

India managed to stage a terrific comeback with the ball to bowl out Bangladesh for 222 and later reached their desitiny on the back of Rohit Sharma (48), Dinesh Karthik (37) and MS Dhoni (36).

Liton Das was 'controversially' stumped as the benefit of doubt was not in favor of centurion. He was given out when MS Dhoni stumped him and waited for the umpire's decision.

The right-handed batsman was beaten by a googly before MS Dhoni took the bails off in a flash. The Indian fielders went up in unison and the third umpire was called to make the final call.

Replays showed that it was a tight call. Rod Tucker had multiple looks at the stumping before giving his decision in the batsman's favor after watching the replays for a good three-odd minutes.

There were a lot of criticisms and mixed reactions on social media especially on facebook. Bangladeshi fans burst with agony and emotion with the controversial decision from the third umpire.

A facebook user, Mazadul Hoque Prince published a post saying "A well-planned conspiracy against BD team is being noticed to lift India." Another Bangladeshi fans' status said: "100% wrong decision against Liton Das."

Sonia Akhter, another fan of the Tigers, tweeted: "I knew it this gonna happen to us." However, there were lots of twist and turn in the final as Tigers sniffed some kind of turn around after the departure of Dhoni and followed by Kedar Yadav being retired hurt on 19.

But Jadeja (23) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (21) added crucial 45 runs for the sixth wicket before the latter was caught behind to add some drama back on the game.

The departure of Bhuvneshwar forced Kedar back on to the crease and kept his cool to take his team to the coast of victory when he picked leg bye in the last ball when his team needed one runs to win from it.

Despite not picking up a wicket in the first 20 overs, the spinners were instrumental in helping India pull it back, sharing six wickets between them as Bangladesh could only manage 106 in the last 28.3 overs while losing all their wickets in the said period.

The major contributor in a 120-run opening stand, Liton remained till the 41st over during his 117-ball 121. But a flurry of wickets in the middle overs, which resulted in Bangladesh losing five wickets for 31 runs, had a detrimental effect on Bangladesh's innings which started with a lot of promise only to eventually fall flat.

Liton struck 121 off 117 balls and looked destined for a bigger innings when he was given stumped out controversially by third umpire Rod Tucker.

In the 41st over of Bangladesh innings, left-arm spinner Kudeep Yadav beat Liton with a googley and MS Dhoni was quick to break the stump, prompting the umpires to refer the matter to upstairs.

Replay remained inconclusive whether Liton managed to take his feet back to the crease but Tucker declared the Liton out giving the benefit of doubt to the bowler.

The decision ruined Bangladesh's prospect of getting a competitive score after middle-order batsmen wasted a great start -provided by Liton and makeshift opener Mehedi Hasan.

After Mehedi got dismissed for 32 off 59 to with a catch at cover, Imrul Kayes was judged leg before, Mushfiqur Rahim heaved a big shot to be caught at long on for and a brilliant piece of fielding by Ravindra Jadeja saw Mohammad Mithun run out for two.

Mahmudullah put himself under pressure by playing some dot balls before his attempt for a six off Kuldeep Yadav saw him caught at deep midwicket by Jasprit Bumrah for four as Bangladesh were reduced to 151-5 n 33rd over from 120-0 in 21st over.

However Liton continued to hammer Indian bowlers and reached his maiden ton in just 87 balls with hitting 10 fours and two sixes before his innings ended in controversial circumstance.The Tigers could reach to a modest total after his dismissal thanks to 33 runs off Soumya Sarkar, who was relegated to number seven in the batting order.

The Tigers gambled with Mehedi in the opening pair and it paid off as the Tigers brought their first century partnership against India in the opening in 2016.This is also Bangladesh's highest opening stand against India, surpassing Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar's 102 in 2015 in Dhaka.

The Tigers are playing with five bowlers for the first time in the tournament as they brought left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam in place of Mominul Haque from their last match win over Pakistan.This is Bangladesh's third Asia Cup final in last four editions and they finished runners-up in previous two occasions in 2012 and 2016 respectively.