Asia Cup 2018 memories: Cricket was the ultimate winner

Asia Cup 2018 turned out to be the most exciting and entertaining Asia Cup of all time. There was individual brilliance, team disappointments, and close encounters. At the end of 13 matches, it was India who became the champions and worthy winners. But in the end, it was the game of cricket which was the ultimate winner in this Asia Cup.

In this article, an attempt is made to present the readers with the entire highlights and memories of Asia Cup 2018 in a condensed form.

The Malinga Burst

The Asia Cup 2018 started with a bang when the old warhorse Lasith Malinga cleaned up Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan in the very first over of the competition. It was sad to note that both Malinga and his team faded away thereafter.

The Tamim injury and Rahim heroics

It was a pity that Tamim Iqbal’s Asia Cup got over in just the 4th over owing to injury. The opening match of the Asia Cup 2018 between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be remembered for Mushifi1ur Rahim’s century and Tamim Iqbal’s bravery.

Easy going for Pakistan

Pakistan started their Asia Cup campaign with a comfortable 8 wicket win over Hong Kong.

Sri Lanka knocked out

The Sri Lankan campaign lasted just 3 days. Afghanistan made their presence felt for the first time in this Asia Cup by knocking title contenders Sri Lanka out of the Asia Cup. It was the beginning of Afghanistan’s giant-killing act.

The Hong Kong scare for India

The Indians thought their first match against Hong Kong would be a practice for the big match against Pakistan. It was expected to be a walk in the park for the Indians. But the Hong Kong openers had other ideas as they put on 174 runs for the first wicket. A little bit of experience in the Hong Kong middle order could have given the Indians the shock of their life. In the end, Team India had a narrow escape.

Lackluster India-Pakistan encounter

There was a lot of hype before the group match between India and Pakistan. But the performance of the Pakistani batsmen did not live up to the expectations. Pakistan were bundled out for 164 and India won the match quite convincingly by 8 wickets. The only negative for India in this match was the injury to Hardik Pandya but it resulted in the welcome return of Ravindra Jadeja into the one day team.

The emergence of Rashid Khan, the all-rounder

We all knew the Afghanistan star Rashid Khan could swing his bat around. But in the match against Bangladesh, Rashid scored a fifty when his team was in deep trouble. Rashid Khan followed that up with a bowling spell of 9-3-13-2 as Afghanistan successfully completed their second giant-killing act.

At that time, everyone thought Afghanistan were through and it was the end of the road for Bangladesh. How horribly wrong we were.

Rashid Khan - The most popular player of Asia Cup 2018

The return of Jaddu

The first super four match between India and Bangladesh witnessed the return of Ravindra Jadeja to white ball cricket. Jadeja made an immediate impact on his return by claiming 4 wickets. As far as the match was concerned, it was another one-sided affair. India, on the back of an innings of 83 not out from Captain Rohit Sharma, won the match quite easily.

Heartbreak for Afghanistan

It was smooth sailing for Afghanistan in the group stages of Asia Cup. They crushed Sri Lanka by 91 runs and Bangladesh by 136 runs. With their improved performances in the group stages, in their super four matches against Pakistan, Afghanistan were expected to give them a run for their money.

While Afghanistan ended up running Pakistan close, it was the presence of the experienced Shoaib Malik in the middle which saved the day for the Men in Green. For Afghanistan, it was heartbreak having lost the match in the last over.

Indian openers make merry

Rohit and Dhawan - The openers of the tournament

When Pakistan put 237 runs on the board against India in the super four match, everyone thought that with the kind of bowling resources at their disposal, they could run India close. But both the Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Dhawan decided to simultaneously showcase their talent in the same innings.

Both Rohit and Dhawan scored hundreds to make a mockery of the chase. The only wicket that fell for India in the innings was through a run-out. Such was India’s domination.

Heartbreak for Afghanistan again

The super four match between Bangladesh and Afghanistan was a must-win for both the teams. Both the teams wanted to win the toss and bat first. But at that crucial juncture, Afghanistan ran out of luck. Bangladesh batted first and were in trouble at 87 for 5. At that stage, Afghanistan let the game slip and Rashid Khan was ineffective for the first time in the tournament.

Bangladesh managed to recover to 249 for 7 through contributions from Mahmudullah (74) and Imrul Kayes (72).

A target of 250 was a tall order for Afghanistan but they fought valiantly only to lose by 3 runs. Mustafizur Rahman defended 8 runs in the last over. Afghanistan had their second heartbreak in 2 days.

The tie

The super four match between India and Afghanistan will be remembered for so many things. India had already qualified for the finals and Afghanistan were out of the tournament. India experimented with their team composition by making 5 changes. This had narrowed the gap between the two teams.

Mohammad Shahzad - The spirit of Afghanistan Cricket

Dhoni was captaining India for the 200th time. This match will be remembered for the astonishing innings of 124 by Mohammad Shahzad. He took the inexperienced Indian bowling attack apart by hitting 11 fours and 7 sixes. Afghanistan set India a target of 253 to win. In the end, that target proved to be exactly enough to tie the match.

It was a strange coincidence that both Dhoni’s first (T20) match as captain and last match as captain ended in a tie.

For Afghanistan, it was a fitting end to the tournament in which they had comprehensively beaten Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and came so close to beating both India and Pakistan.

The virtual semi-final

The last super four match between Pakistan and Bangladesh was a virtual semi-final. The winners of that match would meet India in the final. Junaid Khan and Shaheen Afridi reduced Bangladesh to 12 for 3 before Bangladesh recovered through Mushifiqur Rahim (99) and Mohammad Mithun (60) to reach 239.

A target of 240 proved too much for Pakistan as they crashed out for 202.

The Grand Finale

The Champions of Asia Cup

Bangladesh reached the final unexpectedly. With a bit of luck, it could have been Afghanistan. Bangladesh made use of that opportunity when their openers put on 121 runs for the first wicket. But thereafter, it was India all the way as they restricted Bangladesh to 222.

Bangladesh showed a lot of fight in defending the modest target. India huffed and puffed to reach the target. In the end, it was left to the limping Kedar Jadhav to come to India’s rescue by scoring the winning runs off the last ball of the tournament.

The Asia Cup 2018 which started with an injury to Tamim Iqbal ended with the injured Kedar Jadhav scoring the winning runs for India. In the end, cricket was the winner in Asia Cup 2018.