For the third time in the history of Asia Cup, Bangladesh will be playing the final on Friday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. They missed the title to India in the 2016 edition and after two years, they are gearing up once again to battle with the men in blue to lift the trophy.
Though the Tigers lost the Super Four game earlier to Rohit Sharma and Co, this time they are planning to put up a tougher challenge against the defending champions. They will take the ground with the ‘6-M’ plan to accomplish the mission of conquering the cup.
Now, what is Bangladesh’s ‘6-M’?
Mushfiqur Rahim, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizzur Rahman, Mohd Mithun and Mahmudullah.
These are the six key players of the team who have played crucial roles to cruise their team to the finale. They have already troubled India in the past and if the things fall on the proper place for Bangladesh, they can turn out to be dangerous for India.
Let’s have a look at the performance of the 6 Ms in the tournament so far:
Mushfiqur Rahim: With a century in the opening match against Sri Lanka, the Bangla wicketkeeper-batsman has scored 297 runs and has taken 2 catches so far. He has also grabbed two Man of the Match awards for his saviour knocks against Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Mashrafe Mortaza: The skipper has impressed with his leadership skills in the tournament. He has scored 60 runs but has also scalped 5 wickets in 5 matches.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz: The dynamic all-rounder has all the potential to turn the game either with the bat or the ball. He has scored more runs than his skipper (72) so far with 4 wickets.
Mustafizzur Rahman: Fizzy is one of the reasons why Bangladesh is in the finals. Though he remained wicketless against India, his 4-wicket haul against Pakistan was enough to make a loud noise about his red-hot form. He has 8 wickets in his kitty and will look to get some more against India in the final.
Mohd Mithun: The middle-order batsman may have lost his rhythm in some of the matches but fortunately, he was back in the last encounter against Pakistan. His 60-run knock provided the much-needed strength to his team and now he would look forward to scoring some crucial runs against India.
Mahmudullah: His bat remained silent in the initial games but the way he returned into his skin in the Super 4 stages was brilliant. 74 against Afghanistan and 25 against Pakistan along with a wicket prove that he can harm the Indians with his all-round performance. He has scored 152 runs so far and also scalped 2 wickets.