Tanzim seals it
What a debut for Tanzim Hasan Sakib. He hit a couple of stunning shots over mid-off in scoring an unbeaten 14 off 8 balls. He took out Rohit Sharma and Tilak Varma with the new ball. Then he bowls the final over, with India needing 12 runs, and seals a memorable win for Bangladesh. Tanzim trusts in the slower ball through that over - a dipping, offcutter slower ball - and Mohammed Shami can't lay bat on the first three balls. Then he holds his shape against the fourth ball and swats it between deep midwicket and long-on for four.
With eight needed off two, he gets a yorker that he can only squeeze away behind square. Only a single is really possible, but he wants two to keep strike because he can conceivably hit a last-ball six and Prasidh Krishna most likely cannot. There's more hope than belief in that second run, and he's run out by a long way, nowhere in the picture on TV when Litton flicks the bails off.
A terrific game to end the Super Four stage. Two teams with a lot of changes to their line-up, and it was a tense tussle all the way on a pitch that had something for everyone. New-ball movement for Shami, Thakur and Tanzim, and grip for spinners from both sides. Superb innings from Shakib and Gill in particular, but also lots of other contributions from top- and lower-order batters.
In the end, Bangladesh prevail by six runs, and they leave the Asia Cup on a high after being the first team knocked out at the Super Four stage. India will stay on in Colombo for the final against Sri Lanka. Expect them to be back at full strength for that. It should be another cracker of a contest, in a tournament that has really lived up to expectations when the weather has allowed the cricket to take place. We'll see you on Sunday for that final. Until then, goodbye!
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The Fizz gets Axar
So. Many. Twists. Axar had just drilled the previous ball, a full-toss, wide of long-off for four, bringing the equation down to 12 off 9 balls.
Then Mustafizur takes the pace off, but lands the ball in the slot. Axar takes it on, but has to manufacture a lot of power to clear long-off, and he doesn't manage it. The fielder comes in off the rope and takes a smart running catch, and India are nine down.
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Full-toss does the trick
Another twist in the tale. Mustafizur starts the 49th over with a full-toss on Shardul Thakur's pads, and there were large swathes of the leg side he could have hit this ball to and picked up a boundary. Instead he flicks it in the air and more or less straight to the man at square leg on the 30-yard circle. He walks off with a smile of disbelief. Mohammed Shami comes to the crease with 17 needed off 11.
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Axar finds the release shots
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Mustafizur Rahman conceded just seven off the 47th over, and then Mahedi, varying his pace and trajectory beautifully - including a low-arm slinger a la Kedar Jadhav - gave away just singles off the first four balls of the 48th. That left India needing 27 off 14 balls.
The margin for error in the death overs is tiny, though, and Mahedi ends up landing the fifth and sixth balls right in Axar's slot. He puts both away cleanly, dead-straight, for four and six respectively.
It's down to 17 off the last two overs now. The pressure is back on Bangladesh, you'd think, but India might have Axar's fitness to worry about. He has already taken a blow to the arm from an errant throw. Now he's having his thigh attended to by the physio.
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Who will close out the game?
Mahedi has just bowled his eighth over. Shakib and Nasum are done with their 10-over quotas. Mehidy Hasan Miraz has bowled only five overs but he's been out of the attack for a while, having gone for nearly a run a ball. Mustafizur returns now for his seventh over, the 47th, and you'll assume he'll bowl the 49th as well. Will Bangladesh go back to the pace of Tanzim Hasan for the other two overs, or will they continue to bowl Mahedi, who's looked unhittable at times?
India need 38 off 24.
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India need 44 from 30
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An eventful 45th over from Nasum Ahmed. Axar hits him for a six and a four over the on side, and there's a missed stumping too - a hard chance that Litton can't quite convert when Nasum sees Axar step out and fires the ball down the leg side. There was also an lbw appeal that wasn't given, and Bangladesh had no reviews left. Looked at first sight that the ball, delivered from left-arm around to the left-hander, pitched outside leg stump, but no confirmation of that just yet.
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Six and out
Bangladesh get the big wicket, and Mahedi Hasan is the man of the moment. Gill had just slog-swept him for six, and he responds by going back over the wicket, slowing the ball down, and going wide outside off with his line. Gill takes him on. The ball doesn't reach him as quickly as he expects, and he ends up reaching for it and not quite getting as much power into his straight loft as he wants. Straight down long-off's throat. Something of Yuzvendra Chahal about that wicket, and India are 209 for 7 in 43.4 overs. They need 57 now, in 38 balls.
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64 off 42
That's India's task now. Shakib Al Hasan has used his spinners smartly today. He brought the quicks back for overs 38-40, and then took them off and went back to spin when the last powerplay began, with five fielders allowed on the boundary. Only 14 runs coming from the first three overs of the final powerplay. Something's about to give, you feel.
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Century
Fifth hundred in ODIs, and it comes up in 117 balls. It's also been one of his best knocks, I think, given the match situation with the wickets falling all around him and the conditions that have given all bowlers something to work with. Some of his shots have made it look like the ball is coming onto his bat like a dream, but it often hasn't, and he's not let that hinder him in any way.
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Six down
Mustafizur Rahman comes back into the attack and strikes in the first over of his new spell. Ravindra Jadeja heaves across the line of a stump-to-stump ball and misses, and India are 170 for 6 in 37.4 overs.
Axar Patel walks in at No. 8. India also have Shardul Thakur after this, but they're up against it, with 96 needed in 74 balls.
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Gill into the 90s
And he gets there with a pair of towering sixes off Mehidy Hasan Miraz, both aiming straight and with the turn to clear long-on with ease. India need 103 from 14 overs now, with five wickets in hand.
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The SKY sweep
Suryakumar Yadav came in at the fall of Ishan Kishan's wicket. Kishan was out reverse-sweeping. Suryakumar came in and played a sweep off the first ball he faced, and hit it for four.
Most Indian batters don't play the sweep very often, but it's a key weapon for Suryakumar, one of the fundamental tools behind his quick run-scoring against spin in T20 cricket.
With only four fielders allowed on the boundary in the middle overs, the sweep and its variants can be extremely productive in ODIs, and Suryakumar was showing it while getting to 26 off 33 balls, with exactly half his runs coming from that shot. But the challenge for Suryakumar has been to take his T20 tools and calibrate them to the needs of ODIs, and, well, he hasn't quite managed it here. Tries to take on another sweep off Shakib Al Hasan, who slows the ball down cleverly. He's through his shot early, and the ball beats him and turns to clip off stump.
India are 139 for 5 in 32.4 overs.
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Pressure, pressure, wicket
Bangladesh's spinners get through a sequence of quiet overs: India score just two runs in the 21st from Nasum Ahmed, three in the 22nd from Mehidy Hasan Miraz, and no runs in the 23rd from Shakib Al Hasan. Ishan Kishan tries to manufacture a reverse-sweep off Mehidy in the 24th, and the length isn't quite right for it. The ball goes with the round-the-wicket angle to beat him, and it's totally plumb. Wastes a review too. India are 94 for 4 in 23.3 overs.
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Fifty!
Gill brings it up in some style, with the first six of his innings. Steps out of his crease to Mahedi in the 20th over and whips him over midwicket. That takes him to 54 off 61 balls, which is some effort considering the ball has moved around and the pitch has been a bit two-paced when the spinners have bowled.
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Mahedi gets Rahul
The partnership was going pretty well, but Rahul had gotten a little stuck, scoring just nine off his last 23 balls. Tries to step out and manufacture a whipped boundary off Mahedi, but he's not quite to the pitch of the ball and it probably turns more than he expects. Bat turns in his hands, he hits it lower and squarer than intended, straight into the stomach of the man at short midwicket.
Rahul is out for 19, and India are 74 for 3 in 17.1 overs.
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Gill races along
He's played some exquisite shots in the last couple of overs from Mustafizur Rahman. A back-foot punch through the covers that left everyone rooted in place other than deep point running uselessly to his right, and now a all-hands jab through point to go into the 40s. India are 71 for 2 in 15 overs.
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Two late cuts
They were recently competing with each other for a spot at the top of the order in Test cricket, but Shubman Gill and KL Rahul occupy different spots in the ODI line-up and we can happily admire their different interpretations of languid elegance at the same time. Take these two late-cuts off Nasum Ahmed in the eighth over of India's innings. Gill's is more minimal, he just taps the ball on top of its head and sends it running away past backward point. Rahul uses more of the depth of the crease, gets lower to the ball, and opens his bat face to slice it finer. Different shots, same result.
India are 38 for 2 in eight overs.
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Sakib convinces Shakib
Big lbw appeal against KL Rahul, not given on the field, and Tanzim Hasan Sakib thinks he has his man. His captain Shakib Al Hasan has a long think before agreeing to review, and you can see why he wasn't immediately convinced. Absolute corker of a delivery, angling in and then straightening late. Rahul, defending off the back foot, is opened up, and the ball beats hus outside edge and hits his back pad. It hits him in line, but the ball is bouncing over the stumps according to ball-tracking.
India are 27 for 2 in seven overs.
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Dream debut, not-so-dream debut
Tanzim has two wickets now, and his second is of the other debutant. Tilak Varma sees one slanted across him and shoulders arms, but he doesn't cover his stumps while doing so, and the ball swings back in to hit the top of off.
India are 17 for 2 in 2.4 overs. They have a long batting line-up today, but no Virat Kohli or Hardik Pandya.
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Tanzim strikes in first over
He enjoyed himself with the bat on his ODI debut, and now he gets Rohit Sharma with his second legal ball (there were also two wides). It's a full outswinger, wide enough to tempt the drive away from the body, and Rohit ends up spooning it in the air, straight to the man at cover point.
India are 2 for 1, and they send in Tilak Varma at No. 3.
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265 for 8
Bangladesh's lower-order batters have really, really stood up today, and nothing exemplifies this more than two boundaries from the debutant Tanzim Hasan in the final over of the innings. The first is a short-of-good-length ball from Prasidh Krishna that he flat-bats over mid-off for four. The second is a fullish ball that he lofts gloriously over the same fielder, last ball of the innings.
Between them, Nasum, Mahedi and Tanzim score 87 runs from Nos. 8, 9 and 10. Those contributions have helped Bangladesh set India 266 for victory. It could be a challenging target: batting could already be getting easier under lights, but the new ball could do something when India begin their innings.
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Prasidh strikes
Sends back the impressive Nasum for 44 off 45 balls. A slower ball, full and slanted across the left-hander, and his attempt to drive through the covers ends up as an inside-edge into his stumps. Bangladesh are 238 for 8.
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Batting depth
You often hear people ask why you need a good No. 8 if your top seven can't do the job. Well, it can happen that a pitch has something in it, or a bowling attack is having a good day, and your top seven will all be back in the hut with a bunch of overs still remaining. And if your batting ends at No. 7, your Nos. 5, 6 and 7 won't be able to play with any freedom because of the fear of what happens if wickets fall.
Anyway, Bangladesh have Nasum Ahmed and Mahedi Hasan at No. 8 and 9 today, and they're adding extremely useful runs to their total. They've added 30 for the eighth wicket in just 22 balls, and Bangladesh are 223 for 7 in 45 overs.
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Shami gets Hridoy
Big wicket for India. Hridoy and Nasum Ahmed were just beginning to get into their stride. They had put on 32 in 42 when the returning Shami hit a hard length and hurried Hridoy on the pull. He's unable to keep it down, and ends up hitting a simple catch to the man at deep square leg. Bangladesh are 193 for 7 in 41.2 overs.
Shami, meanwhile, has figures of 5.2-1-12-2.
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Fifty!
Lovely innings from Hridoy. Came in at 59 for 4, and he's still there, giving Bangladesh a real shot at a 260-ish score. Gets to his fifty with a clever shot, using Axar's pace to steer him wide of the keeper for four.
Bangladesh are 187 for 6 in 39.4 overs.
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200 ODI wickets
What a cricketer Ravindra Jadeja is. The 14th player in ODI history, and the only Indian other than Kapil Dev, to complete the 2000 runs/200 wickets double.
He gets there in typical Jadeja fashion. Round the wicket to the left-handed Shamim Hossain, angles it across him, fast and quick so the batter is playing from the crease, and gets it to turn back in sharply as he tries to jam his bat down hurriedly in defence. Struck right in front, and Jadeja celebrappeals as he often does. The umpire raises his finger immediately, and Shamim wastes a review.
Bangladesh are 161 for 6 in 34.1 overs. They've lost four of their six wickets off the first balls of overs. I have no idea if that means anything at all.
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The Lord cometh, the Lord striketh
Does any bowler get more played-ons (as a percentage of total wickets) than Shardul Thakur? Does any bowler break more century stands as a percentage of total stands broken? Does any bowler get more wickets immediately after breaks in play?
First ball after drinks, he bowls a back-of-a-length delivery in the channel, and he bowls it cross-seam. Gets it to misbehave just enough, in who knows what way, for Shakib's attempt at a casual angled-bat push to turn into an inside-edge into his stumps.
Bangladesh are 160 for 5 in 33.1 overs. Shakib is out for 80 off 85 balls, and Thakur has three now.
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Century stand
Textbook ODI partnership construction from Shakib and Hridoy. They added 24 in their first nine overs at the crease, and they've added 76 in their next 10.3 overs. It's a great format because it has room for all these rhythms.
The last few overs have included a slog-swept six from Shakib off Ravindra Jadeja, and a charging, flat-bat slap past mid-on from Hridoy off Thakur.
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The enforcer
When they sat down to pick India's World Cup squad, the selectors must have found it particularly hard to leave Prasidh Krishna out. He brings India's pace attack something it otherwise lacks - height. And he allies that height with pace and an ability to hit the deck and generate movement and bounce. He bowled an excellent spell with the semi-new ball, in which he beat Mehidy Hasan's bat repeatedly, and now he's come back and brought India a bit of control after those big blows from Hridoy and Shakib, going for six runs in two overs. Bangladesh are 137 for 4 in 30 overs.
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What's in a name?
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Shakib joins the party
Bangladesh's counterattack continues, and it continues by means of the batters picking their targets and taking calculated risks. Now it's Shakib's turn to take on his favourable match-up. He uses his feet beautifully to hit Axar for two sixes, both with the turn over midwicket, and brings up a terrific half-century in the process.
Bangladesh are 124 for 4 in 26 overs.
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More turn for Axar
More encouraging signs ahead of the World Cup. Gives it a bit of air outside off, invites the cover drive without serving up a half-volley. Hridoy goes hard at it, gets a thick edge, and it flies for four between keeper and slip.
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Hridoy makes a statement
Towhid Hridoy has looked busy from the time he came to the crease. Now he steps it up a gear with a pair of big hits to put the part-timer under pressure. Steps out and hits him with the turn for two sixes in three balls, one over long-on and one over deep midwicket. Positive cricket, maximising a favourable match-up and makes sure he makes India think hard about whether they want to continue using their sixth bowler.
Bangladesh are 97 for 4 in 23 overs, and Hridoy is on 21 off 30 balls.
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Tilak nearly gets Shakib
Most of India's top-order batters don't bowl, and one of the things that make Tilak such an exciting prospect is the fact that he bowls some useful offspin. He's looked tidy in his first two overs here, and he's almost picked up a big wicket too. Draws Shakib Al Hasan forward to defend with a bit of loop, and then he gets turn and extra bounce to tickle his glove. The bounce unsettles KL Rahul as well, though, and the chance ends up as a blow to the keeper's chest.
Bangladesh are 71 for 4 in 18.2 overs, and Shakib is batting on 28.
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Encouraging wicket for Axar
Axar Patel comes on in the 14th over and strikes with his sixth ball. What will most please him, and his team, is how he got this wicket. A good-length ball turning away from off stump - not massively, but enough to have Mehidy pushing with hard hands and edging to slip, where Rohit takes a good catch low to his right.
The turn was missing during India's last game, against Sri Lanka, and that was worrying because every other spinner was turning it big that day. Axar has generally seemed to lack a bit of threat with the ball in recent months even while he's grown immensely as a batter - most exemplified by his Test series against Australia earlier this year when he ended up as a batting allrounder who happened to bat at No. 8 or 9, bowling far fewer overs than R Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja. He's always bowled with a wide release point that creates a big inward angle to the right-hander, and of late he's struggled to get the ball to turn against that angle. This wicket, though, is a good sign.
Bangladesh are 59 for 4 in 14 overs.
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Two dropped chances
Bangladesh end the first powerplay on 44 for 3.
They could have been in even more strife had India not dropped two catches in the 10th over. First, a fairly straightforward chance at midwicket when Mehidy Hasan Miraz flicked Thakur uppishly. Tilak moved smartly to his right to get to the ball, but then dropped a straightforward, hip-high two-hander.
Then Thakur got the ball to swing away with extra bounce in the corridor, and Mehidy, on the hop, tried to punch through the covers only to send a thick edge flying over the head of Surayakumar at second slip. Good effort from him, timing his jump well and getting both hands to the ball, but it was travelling quickly and they either stick or don't. This one did not.
Shades of India's game against Nepal at the start of the tournament. They dropped three catches in the first five overs of that match.
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Meanwhile...
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Thakur gets another
Bangladesh are crumbling here. Not the greatest of shots from Anamul Haque. He likes his horizontal-bat shots, but he pays the price for being a little over-eager. He'd stepped out a couple of balls earlier and pulled Thakur for four, and the bowler had shortened his length sufficiently for that. This ball isn't short enough, and it's swinging away from him, outside off. Ends up sending a top-edge ballooning high, and Rahul completes the catch after a brief jog.
Bangladesh are 28 for 3 in 5.4 overs.
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Two down
Thakur hits back at Tanzid after being caressed for those two fours in his last over. And he gets him out in typical Thakur style. A not particularly threatening ball, short and seemingly pullable, but it seems to either stop on the surface or keep ever so slightly low, and Tanzid ends up bottom-edging into his stumps. Do not mess with the Lord.
Bangladesh 15 for 2 in 3.1 overs.
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Shami strikes
Typical Shami wicket, and Litton Das is the man dismissed. Upright seam, a hint of movement back in from just outside off, and Litton is only half-forward to defend it. Zips through him before he can really fully bring his bat down, brushes his pad, and flicks his off bail.
Bangladesh are 13 for 1 in 2.1 overs, and Litton is out for a duck.
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Tanzid timing
Shardul Thakur takes the new ball for India, and he's getting a bit of shape into the left-hander from over the wicket, but he's also pitching pretty full to get that shape. And Tanzid Hasan strokes him for two beautiful boundaries, back-to-back, between mid-off and extra-cover. Just leans into the ball, meets it with a full face, and doesn't even bother following through.
Last ball of the over brings a play and miss as Thakur bowls a wide tempter. Not as elegant this time, Tanzid just throws his hands at it and misses.
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India bowl, both teams ring in the changes
Rohit Sharma wins the toss, and elects to bowl first. "It's something we've not done in the tournament," he says. "We've not batted under lights, we've not chased."
Five changes for India. Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah are rested, while Tilak Varma, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna and Suryakumar Yadav come into the side. No Iyer, then. Rohit suggests Suryakumar might get a bowl today - which might be a necessity given there's no genuine sixth bowler with Hardik Pandya out. Tilak is another possible part-time option.
With Shardul Thakur at No. 9, India bat very deep today. Official word from the BCCI on Shreyas Iyer: He has "shown improvement but he is not yet fully fit."
Bangladesh make five changes too, by my count. Mohammad Naim, Mushfiqur Rahim, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam and Hasan Mahmud are out. Tanzid Hasan, Anamul Haque, Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman and the debutant Tanzim Hasan Sakib are in. Tanzim is a 20-year-old right-arm seamer. I would think Litton Das will keep wicket with Mushfiqur Rahim out.
India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 KL Rahul, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Prasidh Krishna.
Bangladesh: 1 Litton Das (wk), 2 Tanzid Hasan, 3 Anamul Haque, 4 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 5 Towhid Hridoy, 6 Shamim Hossain, 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 8 Mahedi Hasan, 9 Nasum Ahmed, 10 Tanzim Hasan Sakib, 11 Mustafizur Rahman.
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Debut alert!
A sign that India are about to make quite a few changes today. Tilak Varma has received his ODI cap. He's not part of the World Cup squad, but he's looked extremely impressive in the T20I opportunities he's got so far, and perhaps India feel it's a good idea to get him some match practice in case a spot in the squsd opens up through injury.
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Super Four winds down
India are through to the Asia Cup final, and Bangladesh are out of contention. It’s the last match of the Super Four stage, and it’s a dead rubber, but it isn’t like there’s nothing at stake. For India it is, perhaps, a chance to rest some players and also give a few others who are part of their World Cup squad but haven’t seen much action lately – possibly Shreyas Iyer, who has recovered from the back issue that kept him out of the Pakistan and Sri Lanka games – a game. For Bangladesh, it’s been a tournament of missed chances. A big win over Afghanistan promised much, but that's remained their only win so far. They can still end on a bright note, though, and get some belief back before the World Cup.
The toss is in just under half an hour at Colombo, where the weather - for now - is clear. Long may it remain that way.
You can watch the Bangladesh vs India match LIVE in the USA on ESPN+.
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