Dhawan and Kohli star as India beat Bangladesh to win Asia Cup

Shikhar Dhawan and the in-form Virat Kohli were in the runs, while MS Dhoni provided some late fireworks against Bangladesh as India won the Asia Cup for a record sixth time with an eight-wicket victory in a rain-affected final on Sunday.

India went into the showdown at the Shere Bangla Stadium as strong favourites and made it five wins out of five in the tournament after a storm in Mirpur had put the game in doubt.

Mahmudullah top scored with a quickfire 33 not out from only 13 balls and Sabbir Rahman was unbeaten on 32 as Bangladesh posted 120-5 in a game reduced to 15 overs per side, with Jasprit Bumrah (1-13) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1-14) the pick of the bowlers.

A second-wicket stand of 94 between Dhawan (60 off 44) and Kohli (41no from 28) all-but dashed Bangladesh’s hopes of a shock win.

Captain Dhoni then smashed an unbeaten 20 off just six balls to seal India’s first Asia Cup win in six years just over a week before they start their World Twenty20 campaign on home soil.

Soumya Sarkar (14) upped the run rate when he hit Ashish Nehra for back-to-back boundaries after the game eventually got under way at 9.30pm local time, but got his attempt to dispatch a third in a row to the ropes all wrong and was caught at mid-off in the final ball of the fourth over.

Tamim Iqbal (13) was trapped leg before wicket by Bumrah in the following over to reduce the Tigers to 30-2 and Shakib Al Hasan made a brisk 21, but failed to go on.

Mahmudullah whipped the partisan crowd into a frenzy by clearing the ropes twice in a penultimate over from Hardik Pandya that went for 21 runs, but he and Sabbir could only add seven in a tight final over from the impressive Bumrah.

Rohit Sharma starred with a fine knock of 83 when India beat Bangladesh in the opening game of the tournament, but missed out when he was caught at slip by Sarkar off Al-Amin Hossain (1-30) in the second over.

However, the classy Dhawan and Kohli took the game away from the Tigers as they found the boundary all too easily and although the former failed to see India home, Dhoni clubbed his second six to secure the victory with seven balls to spare.