Sakeb Subhan

Bangladesh Test and T20I captain Shakib Al Hasan is currently lying with his left arm in a sling in Apollo Hospital. By the time he had come back from the Asia Cup in the UAE on Wednesday, unable to even grip a bat after batting and bowling in four games, his left little finger had swollen to twice its size.

The target was just 223 for the vaunted Indian batting that has struck fear in the hearts of bowling line-ups the world over, but that it took them till the last ball of the 50th over to complete a three-wicket win in the Asia Cup final spoke volumes of the heart Bangladesh have shown throughout the tournament.

Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar typify the young Bangladesh batsman -- full of talent, but often prone to throwing away good starts. Yesterday in the Asia Cup, in different ways, they batted against type and took on responsibility -- Liton with a fabulous 121 and Soumya with a rearguard of 33 -- but it was the much-feted senior batsmen who seemed to have taken on the unwanted attributes of the much-maligned juniors.

It is a twist of fate that two different Asia Cups have been witness to two stages in Bangladesh's evolution. Along with evolution, of course, comes growth amid turmoil and Bangladesh have had much of both in the 2012 tournament and the ongoing one in the UAE where they will contest for the trophy against overwhelming favourites India.

When Bangladesh take on India in the Asia Cup final in Dubai today, it will be a battle between two sides who have come to the title clash through highly contrasting routes and with widely divergent levels of confidence.

Performers, be they on stage, in front of television cameras or on the field of play, sometimes talk about 'love the mess' -- in other words revelling in the scenario when things spin out of control

Bangladesh overcame a slew of obstacles and the crushing blow of ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan being ruled out on the morning of the match to achieve one of their best results -- a 37-run win over two-time champions Pakistan in their Asia Cup match at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

An already unlucky Asia Cup went from bad to worse for Bangladesh as before the most important match, yesterday's virtual semifinal against Pakistan, trump card Shakib Al Hasan was ruled out of the tournament.

The Asia Cup so far has been an exercise in making lemonade out of lemons for Bangladesh. From the first match, during which opener Tamim Iqbal was felled by a fractured left hand because of which he eventually had to leave the tournament, Bangladesh have had to deal with the heat in the UAE, which the country's cricketers have not experienced since the 1995 Asia Cup, and tough scheduling.

When Bangladesh meet Pakistan in the last Asia Cup Super Four game, it will be a virtual semifinal between two teams who have had similar paths to this point. Both have won two matches out of four so far.

What could be the beginning of a turnaround for Bangladesh in the ongoing Asia Cup may seem on the surface to have been caused by the inspired inclusion of Imrul Kayes in the team for Sunday's match against Afghanistan a mere 17 hours after he was flown into the United Arab Emirates as emergency reinforcement.

Bangladesh's score of 249 for seven in the crucial Asia Cup Super Four match against Afghanistan yesterday may have elicited a chorus of relieved sighs across the country, but it did not signify a cure to what has been ailing their batting in the ongoing Asia Cup.

Mustafizur Rahman bowled a superb last over, conceding just four runs when eight were needed, as Bangladesh won the Asia Cup Super Four match against Afghanistan by three runs at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

The 13th-hour inclusion of discarded national openers Soumya Sarkar and Imrul Kayes in Bangladesh's Asia Cup squad may have seemed like reinforcement for a troubled team on Saturday evening, but in the cold light of day it seems little more than a panicked reaction to bad performance.

Confused seems to be the word for Bangladesh in their ongoing Asia Cup campaign. After a bright start on September 15 when they won the opener by 137 runs against Sri Lanka in Dubai, they now stand on the brink of possible elimination in today's Super Four encounter against a vibrant Afghanistan.

Afghan leg-spin sensation Rashid Khan added an unexpected cameo with the bat to his customary incisiveness with the ball to help Afghanistan blow away Bangladesh by 136 runs in the final Asia Cup Group B match at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

“It is even more than Mirpur,” came the response from Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza after their Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka on September 15 in Dubai. He was talking about the feeling of home provided by a Bangladesh expatriate-dominated crowd of nearly 25,000 at the Dubai International Stadium.

What increasingly appears to be favouritism towards cricketing powerhouse India has turned the Asia Cup into a near farce. Even with two group matches left and Group A and Group B champions yet to be decided, on Wednesday morning the Asian Cricket Council has published the fixtures list of the Super Four stage starting on Friday.

Tamim Iqbal's heavily bandaged left hand stuck out of a blue sling as he sat on the dressing room balcony staring off into space. The international match unfolding in front of him -- one that he was at the centre of just an hour and a half ago in hot sunshine before being reduced to a spectator as the Dubai sun was setting-- probably did not register.

Last man Mustafizur Rahman had a brain freeze with 3.1 overs still left and the job, despite Mushfiqur Rahim's stellar unbeaten ton, nowhere near done.