Asia Cup 2018: Captain Rohit Sharma Says Team India's Performance Made Him Look Good

India retained the Asia Cup with a three-wicket win off the last ball against a fighting Bangladesh who were anchored by a maiden hundred from opener Liton Das in Dubai on Friday. Stand-in India skipper Rohit Sharma praised his players for handling pressure well beside playing quality cricket throughout the tournament. "We played some good cricket throughout the tournament and this is the reward of all the hardwork throughout the tournament", Rohit said at the post-match presentation. "If you have a team like that, the captain will always look good," he said.

"I have been part of games like this before and credit to the guys in the middle to handle the pressure and to cross the finishing line was a fantastic effort," he added.

India made heavy weather of a modest 223-run target as Bangladesh fought for every run before the title holders achieved victory off the last ball watched by a capacity crowd at Dubai stadium.

Das held the innings together during his 117-ball 121 which featured a dozen boundaries and two sixes but Bangladesh, who were put into bat, were all out in 48.3 overs despite a solid opening stand of 120 with Mehidy Hasan.

With their settled opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, India were expected to run away with victory, like they did in the previous matches but Bangladesh were not ready to give up without a fight.

Rohit also praised Bangladesh for their fighting spirit in a do-or-die contest.

"You have to give some credit to Bangladesh. They put us under pressure in the first 10 overs," said the 31-year-old right hander.

"It wouldn't be easy if we didn't have the support of the remaining 10 players, so I am really proud of the boys," the India skipper said praising his teammates.

On the other hand, commenting on the match, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza said, "We bowled really well, particularly if we made 240+. We asked the batsmen to make at least 260, but at the end of the day the bowlers did really well."

"I wanted to bowl the quicks first, because I wanted to restrict the runs since they were going after us and trying to play shots at that stage," he added.

It was India's seventh Asia Cup title.

(With IANS Inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Bangladesh Cricket Team Rohit Sharma Mashrafe Mortaza Asia Cup 2018 Cricket India vs Bangladesh, Final