Asia Cup in review

What began on the 11th of March, couldn’t have ended in such fashion, even in the wildest of comtemplations. I can’t express the feeling of what I am to put in words after a few minutes. Wow! Never could have I or either one around the globe deliberated on such an exciting finish to this contest. First of all felicitations to the winners, Team Pakistan & my best wishes to the runners up, Bangladesh. This tournament has certainly unveiled great amount of talent and must have boosted the morale of young cricketers like Kohli & Shakib. Meanwhile, it has also furnished their skills to a great extent.

If we analyze the role & performance of each team, I would prefer starting with SL and then ascend in discussion based on the results of each one. Sri Lanka really couldn’t taste anything more than defeat. They failed to maintain the tempo, which helped them succeed in different forms of the game so far. To talk about India, I consider them to be a bit unlucky this time. Tendulkar got to his much awaited hundredth ton, but my fears turned to reality seeing the aftermath of that particular match. This is what my status update was on Facebook, when Sachin got to his century, “Environs reverberate with extols about the Little Master. But, my fears elevate further. Sachin’s ton doesn’t give immunity against a defeat. Rather degenerates the likelihood to some extent. Hoping for the best. Fingers crossed….” All the jubilation subsided into an air of eerie discomfort. Dejection rose to its zenith, as the spectators left the stadium, ensnared by grief. But, the Indian team recovered and outsmarted its arch rivals in the batting department. Kohli seemed to have had a lions lunch that day. He batted wonderfully well in a game that was looked forward to with an unimaginable curiosity. Later, it was an incredulous win by Bangladesh against Sri Lanka, that seized the fate of our Indian team. Pakistan in my opinion, as usual struggled to perform consistently. Their fielding and batting is highly unreliable & they have only the bowling department to count on. In both the games against Bangladesh, it was only their bowlers who helped dock their ship. Had they not been there, it would have become extremely difficult to evade the tides. The other two sectors were a failure again.

Bangladesh definitely needs a separate mention. They have performed beyond expectations. For me, they were the best team in this competition. They showed improvements in all areas of the game. Their batting was superb, they bowled positively & fielded to their best. To summarize it all, we saw a new Bangladesh team grooming up to face the upcoming challenges. I take pride to applaud them for their resplendent performance in Asia Cup. For me they didn’t lose and should be regarded as winners too. Though, they failed to win the Cup, but have undoubtedly won the hearts of millions. This is where the real beauty of Cricket lies!