Mirpur: India has opened its account in the Asia Cup on a positive note registering a convincing 45-run win in the first match of Asia Cup against Bangladesh at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
Defending a total of 166 runs, Bangladesh's batting line-up fumbled right from the beginning and could only reach a total of 121-7 in 20 overs.
Sabbir Rahman (44 from 32 balls) tried to bring the team out of early losses, but no other batsman could stand with him for long.
Ashish Nehra led the Indian bowling attack from the front and took three wickets for just 23 runs, making sure that Bangladesh could not recover from the early losses. Bumrah, Pandya and Ashwin shared one wicket each.
Bering put to bat first after Bangladesh winning the toss, India set the hosts a decent target of 167 runs for victory. Struggling at one time at 42-3 after losing Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina cheaply, Rohit Sharma came to the team's rescue with a responsible innings of 83 runs off 55 balls.
Rohit gradually started accelerating the run rate with Yuvraj Singh who scored 15. Both players put up a partnership of 55 runs for the fifth wicket.
Rohit then took India out of the adverse situation and made another swift partnership of 61 runs with Hardik Pandya who scored an impressive 31 off 18 balls.
Among the bowlers, Al-Amin Hossain took 3 wickets for 37 runs, whereas Mortaza, Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan managed to get one wicket each.
Rohit Sharma's impressive knowck earned him the Man of the Match award.
