With a 41-run victory over Bangladesh, India cruised into the final match of the 2025 Asia Cup with a game to spare.
Before Kuldeep Yadav picked up 3-18, opener Abhishek Sharma’s 75 off 37 balls led his team’s total of 168-6.
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In response to Bangladesh’s decision to field first in the match on Wednesday, Sharma scored five sixes in his fourth T20 half-century.
Hardik Pandya scored 38 balls in 29 balls after India’s middle-order struggled, but the overall result appeared to be nothing more than a par effort on a slow wicket at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Saif Hassan’s fourth T20 half-century gave Bangladesh a 127-run lead in reply. His team chased a target similar to the one that gave them the victory over Sri Lanka on Saturday, but he couldn’t add it to their 69 of 51 balls.
India’s fielding had the advantage of a much larger margin of victory, but with five dropped catches, dominant displays from Sharma and their spinners had the advantage of a final spot.
India reached the T20 final of the Asia Cup for the second time in 2016, beating Bangladesh in the previous year.
On Thursday, Bangladesh will face Pakistan in the same venue to decide who will advance. Sri Lanka was declared a winner thanks to India’s victory.
The Indian openers started slowly but quickly soared to a new high with 21 runs in the fourth over, and Sharma-Gill added 77 runs from 38 balls for the first wicket.
Gill scored 29 balls with two sixes on the powerplay, which ended up 72-0. Rishad Hossain caught him long off in the seventh over, and he fell.
India were down to 83-2 in 8.1 overs when promoted Shivam Dube was caught doing the same.
Sharma, who belted sixes effortlessly against both spinners and pacers, won the match for the second half-century in a row off 25 balls.
Even though Suryakumar Yadav, the team’s skipper, only contributed four runs, India made it 100 before the halfway point when Sharma recorded 29 off 18 balls for the third wicket.
The 12th over saw the opener run out after Sharma had already made a good stop and was stranded midway. Five balls later, Yadav was out for five as India lost all hope at 114-4.
Pandya helped India push past 150 in the 18th over by putting together a fruitful partnership with the lower-middle-order. With Axar Patel, who scored 10 not out, he added 39 off 33 balls and four fours with a six.
India only managed four runs in the final over, which shortened an intended 180 target, despite the available wickets.
When Tanzid Hassan was dismissed for one, Jasprit Bumrah gave India’s bowlers a strong start. Things changed as soon as India deployed its spinners, who all scored in their first innings, with Saif Hassan and Parvez Emon putting on 42 off 30 balls to re-start the chase.
Emon was thrown back at square leg for 21 off 19 balls by Kuldeep Yadav. Shamim Hossain was then bowled by Vasut Chakravarthy for a three-ball duck. As Bangladesh fell to 74-4 in 10.4 overs, Patel caught Towhid Hridoy for seven in the middle.
Any chance of a turnaround was thwarted when Suryakumar Yadav’s attempt to defeat Jaker Ali was defeated in the thirteenth over.
Saif Hassan, however, struggled to score off three fours and six sixes to reach his second half-century in a row. Along the way, he was let down by Indian fielders on 40, 60, 65, and 69.
