DUBAI: India entered the final of the Asia Cup Twenty20 tournament with its fifth consecutive win. India defeated Bangladesh by 41 runs in the Super Four match. Chasing a target of 169 runs set by India, Bangladesh's reply ended at 127 runs in 19.3 overs. Opener Saif Hasan, who scored a half-century, was the only one who held his own in the Bangladesh line-up. India's last match is against Sri Lanka on Friday. India will face the winner of tomorrow's Pakistan-Bangladesh match in the final.

Chasing the target, Bangladesh's opener Saif Hasan scored a half-century. Another opener, Tanzeed Hasan, was dismissed after Tamim scored 1(3). Parvez Hossain, who came in third, added 42 runs for the second wicket with Emon 21(19). When Kuldeep Yadav broke this partnership, Bangladesh was at 46 for two. Bangladesh were 109 for six in 15.2 overs when the later batsmen Towhid Hridoy 7(10), Shamim Hossain 0(3), captain Jaker Ali 4(5) and Mohammad Saifuddin 4(7) were dismissed.

Bangladesh had hope because Saif Hasan was standing firm on one side. Shivam Dubey and Sanju Samson gave up two catches of the player in the 16th over. Rishad Hussain was out at 2(3) in the next over at number seven. Tanzeeb Hasan Shakib 0(1) was clean bowled by Kuldeep in the next ball. Saif Hasan, the ninth, was dismissed for 69 (50) by Bumrah, confirming Bangladesh's defeat. Kuldeep Yadav took three wickets for India. Varun Chakraborty and Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets each. Axar Patel and Tilak Verma got one wicket each.

Batting first, India scored 168 runs for the loss of six wickets in the stipulated 20 overs. Opener Abhishek Sharma's fiery batting performance of 75 (37) helped India. However, at one stage, India, which seemed to easily cross 200, was held back by the Bangladeshi bowlers. After scoring 96 runs in the first ten overs, India could only score 72 runs in the next ten overs.

Openers Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill gave a fiery start but the middle order could not capitalise on it. Unnecessary experiments in the batting order slowed down the Indian scoring rate. Malayali star Sanju Samson did not get a chance to bat. Captain Suryakumar Yadav 5(11) and Axar Patel 10*(15) also played a role in India's slow progress. Tilak Verma was dismissed for 5(7) and Shivam Dubey for 2(3) runs each. Hardik Pandya's 38(29) stood firm as India's score crossed 150.