International
India cruise to Asia Cup 2025 final but not without hiccups
Abhishek Sharma scores 75, starring once again, but Indian fielders drop as many as five catches in the 41-run win over Bangladesh
Khurram Habib
A sports journalist for 23 years now, having written extensively on cricket, golf, Formula One among other sports. Have also manned desks, sports and otherwise.
25 Sep, 2025
India cruised through to the final of the Asia Cup after beating Bangladesh in their Super Fours match played in Dubai on Tuesday night but they faltered on aspect badly and that was fielding.
The Indians dropped five catches in the match and still managed to win by 41 runs. It was poor, restless batting from the Bangladeshis that eventually handed India a win that makes their last Super Fours match against Sri Lanka inconsequential.
India were put into bat first for the first time in the tournament. They began well will Abhishek Sharma (75 off 37 balls, 6x4s, 5x6s) helping them get 72 in the first six overs, that is, the Powerplay.
India got slow after that as they collected 24 runs in the next four overs as the Bangladeshi spinners tied a knot. They also lost a few wickets and at one stage, in the 15th over, they were reduced to 129/5.
But Hardik Pandya (38 off 29 balls) saw them through to 168/6 in 20 overs. Axar Patel struggled with the bat, scoring 10 not out off 15 balls.
The Bangladeshis stayed in contention, scoring 44/1 in the Powerplay but then wickets stalled them. Opening batsman Saif Hassan (69 off 51, 3x4s, 5x6s) proved to be the lone ranger but he was dropped four times towards the second half of his innings.
India, however, held on to win the match.
Some of the catches that India dropped – four against Pakistan in the last game and fiv against Bangladesh on Tuesday – were sitters.
Varun Chakravarthy acknowledged that after the match but blamed it on lighting at the stadium. The Dubai stadium has a ring of lights around and no poles.
“As a team, we definitely have to start catching those because we look like we will be qualifying for the finals. We should be taking them, but definitely, if you ask me about rings of fire, it comes in the eye, something. It is a little bit of disturbance,” said Chakravarthy echoing the views of the fielding coach T Dilip, who said the same thing a few days ago.
Tags : Asia cup 2025, Indian cricket, Bangladesh cricket, Abhishek Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel
