2018 Asia Cup (in UAE)

[Jemisi]

Well done BD

[grant]

BD could've easily won the Asia Cup yesterday. I don't know why but they seem to have this mental block against India.

[sam_ahm]

Very good performance by Bangladesh without two of their best players. The Asia Cup was there for tge taking though, after being 120/0 they coukd only manage 222 and that is where the game was list. Anything near 250, and BAN should have easily reached there given the position they were in, it was game over for India.

[Jemisi]

very good little tournament, really.

[Kriterion_BD]

Yeah 250 had been a winnning total in every game so far. Considering that when you exclude Hong Kong, the highest total posted in all games between the 5 Test nations was Bangladesh's 261...it proved that 240-250 was a par score on these UAE pitches. 3.5 hours of fielding in 40 degree heat beats the crap out of batters batting 2nd and chasing becomes very difficult.

Overall, it was a pretty decent tourney for BD...but the batting is in shambles unless the Big 4 are all fit. The bowling was world class particularly with Mustafiz (can't think of a better bowler than him in ODIs) and Miraz was sensational as well with his economy rate. But the WC will be played on flat tracks where they will routinely be conceding 320+ meaning it will be the batsman's job to chase big totals down.

But lets not forget that without Kohli, Rahane, Pandya etc this was essentially an India A team that was strong enough to win the Asia Cup, even if only just.

Shout out to Afghanistan for the improvements they showed...hopefully they are real.

Safe to say Bangladesh are currently the 2nd best ODI team in Asia behind India.

[sam_ahm]

Yeah 250 had been a winnning total in every game so far. Considering that when you exclude Hong Kong, the highest total posted in all games between the 5 Test nations was Bangladesh's 261...it proved that 240-250 was a par score on these UAE pitches. 3.5 hours of fielding in 40 degree heat beats the crap out of batters batting 2nd and chasing becomes very difficult.

Overall, it was a pretty decent tourney for BD...but the batting is in shambles unless the Big 4 are all fit. The bowling was world class particularly with Mustafiz (can't think of a better bowler than him in ODIs) and Miraz was sensational as well with his economy rate. But the WC will be played on flat tracks where they will routinely be conceding 320+ meaning it will be the batsman's job to chase big totals down.

But lets not forget that without Kohli, Rahane, Pandya etc this was essentially an India A team that was strong enough to win the Asia Cup, even if only just.

Shout out to Afghanistan for the improvements they showed...hopefully they are real.

Safe to say Bangladesh are currently the 2nd best ODI team in Asia behind India.

Mate regarding India, we were lucky that Pandya was injured because Jedeja did one hell of a good job, Rahane is dropped. Other than Virat, no one else was missing.

Come the WC, India will find it very difficult if the middle order remains the same.

[Jemisi]

Yeah not India A. Maybe India A+

[Kriterion_BD]

Mate regarding India, we were lucky that Pandya was injured because Jedeja did one hell of a good job, Rahane is dropped. Other than Virat, no one else was missing.

Come the WC, India will find it very difficult if the middle order remains the same.

PLenty of Indian first teamers were rested for the Asia Cup. Kohli, Pandya, and Shami. So it was a considerably weakened side, IMO.

[Detective RDS]

I hope Rahmat Shah goes on to be world class. Nabi would be on that list but hes already 33.

They actually almost batted well today (still had a mini collapse). They play BD on Thursday and that is going to be one hell of a game.

Rahmat is easily their best batsman I really like him but as you kind of eluded to he isn't world class yet. Nabi should be batting higher in the order IMO, especially now he isn't their No.1 or 2 spin bowler, he should be taking more responsibility and bat higher.

Asghar Afghan really pisses me off, the guy is a hack absolutely hopeless cant bat for shit, but he's a great leader and they fall apart without him there.

I have always believed Mohammad Shehzad is the best batsman of Afghanistan. This guy can really scare the bowlers.

[Kriterion_BD]

I have always believed Mohammad Shehzad is the best batsman of Afghanistan. This guy can really scare the bowlers.

He's a hack. No technique, decent temperament surprisingly (probably due to age), but the positions he gets in to play basic strokes is hilarious. He's a 20 average batsman. Yes he hit a 100 but that was against a B level India attack IIRC.