Akbar Ali could not bat the ball. The ball went past his bat outside the leg stump and into the wicketkeeper’s hands. The umpire waved his hands – wide.

Akbar was released from prison with this wide. Bangladesh ‘A’ team was about to lose the match that his childish mistake had won. From there, Suyash Sharma’s wide in the Super Over confirmed Bangladesh’s victory. The victory that sent Bangladesh to the final of the Rising Stars Asia Cup.

Right-arm pacer Ripon Mondal was the hero of Bangladesh’s dramatic victory. Ripon took two wickets of India ‘A’ team in the first two balls of the Super Over. Then, Bangladesh, who were chasing a target of 1 run, lost their wicket in the first ball and got the win with that wide.

Before the Super Over, there was extreme drama in the main game of 20 overs. In Doha, Qatar, Bangladesh ‘A’ team batted first and scored 194 for 6. India ‘A’ team, which came out to chase, needed 21 runs in the last two overs, with 5 wickets in hand.

At that moment, Ripon took the ball in hand and gave away only 5 runs in 6 balls, taking 1 wicket. In the last over, Rakibul Hasan went to bowl and gave away 12 runs in the first 5 balls. India needed 4 runs in 1 ball. A dramatic situation arose in the last ball.

Despite trying for a boundary, batsman Harsh Dube’s shot went straight to the long-on fielder. Dube, overwhelmed with frustration, ran for the second run reluctantly. At this point, wicketkeeper Akbar tried to break the stumps after receiving the ball. He thought Dube would be run out, but the stumps did not break, and no fielder was nearby. Result: Both Indian batsmen got the opportunity and took the third run. The match was tied.

Then, Ripon shone again in the Super Over. His first ball was a yorker, which India captain Jitesh Sharma, who was on strike, bowled while playing a reverse shot. Ashutosh Sharma took a catch at cover while picking up the next ball.

Bangladesh needed 1 run as India were bowled out for 0 runs. But Yasir Ali, who had taken strike initially, was caught at long on with the first ball. After Akbar came out to bat as the third batsman for Bangladesh, he gave a wide, and the Bangladesh ‘A’ captain folded his hands in an apologetic gesture as he had ‘apologized’.

Earlier, this Akbar had dropped Nehal Wadera’s easy catch from his gloves with the second ball of the 19th over. However, Zeeshan Alam put the team in even greater danger with a catch-miss. When India needed 8 runs from the last 3 balls, Zeeshan took an easy catch on the boundary, and even after the miss, he could not prevent the boundary. The equation came down to 4 runs from 2 balls. After Rakibul took the wicket with the fifth ball, the same equation remained with the last ball, and Akbar’s mistake and the match was tied in the super over.

Ripon Mondal was the man of the match
After Habibur, Mehrab

Habibur Rahman and SM Mehrab were the main contributors behind Bangladesh’s total of 194 runs for 6 wickets. Opening the innings, Habibur scored 65 runs in 46 balls with 3 fours and 5 sixes. And in the end, Mehrab remained unbeaten on 48 runs in just 18 balls with 6 sixes and 1 four.

Bangladesh ‘A’ team took the total close to two hundred with 28 runs in the 19th over and 22 runs in the 20th over, which India was on the verge of chasing with the stormy batting of Vaibhav Suryavanshi (33 off 15 balls) and Priyansh Arya (44 off 23 balls). However, after the ups and downs and various dramas at the end, Bangladesh laughed.

Bangladesh ‘A’ team will face the winner of Pakistan-Sri Lanka in the final on Sunday.

Brief scores:

Bangladesh ‘A’ team: 194/6 in 20 overs (Habibur 65, Mehrab 48*, Zeeshan 26; Gurjapaneet 2/39).

India ‘A’ team: 194/6 in 20 overs (Priyansh 44, Suryavanshi 38, Jitesh 33; Rakibul 2/39, Abu Haider 2/44).

Result: Bangladesh won in the Super Over.

Man of the Match: Ripon Mondal.