India Punch Tickets to 11th Straight FIBA Asia Cup with thrilling 81-77 win over Bahrain
Harsh Dagar drops 28 points on an astounding 75% conversion rate from beyond the three point line, as India posts its first back-to-back FIBA level wins after nine years
Khalifa Sports City, Bahrain: Early this morning, as most of India slept, India Basketball was finally waking up from its forced slumber.
The Indian men’s basketball team triumphed over hosts Bahrain in an epic thriller to finally punch its tickets to the FIBA Asia Cup 2025.
Just like in the previous 2021 Asia Cup campaign, this time around too, India was unable to secure direct qualification, and needed to win at least one of the two games from the ongoing ‘Final Qualifying Tournament’.
Turns out, India would win both, against Iraq on Saturday, followed by today’s 81-77 victory against Bahrain.
The fact that India had previously lost two games to Bahrain in the 2021 Asia Cup Qualifiers, made today’s revenge victory extra sweet.
Dagar’s Daggers
India finally seems to have found its sharpshooting long-distance assassin. After a slow start, Uttar Pradesh Police’s Harsh Dagar has begun replicating his killer instincts from the younger age group to the senior stage.
Against Bahrain, the 6ft 2’’ shooting guard dropped 28 points on an astounding 75% conversion rate from beyond the three-point line.
For the second straight game, India shot incredibly well from deep. In fact, versus Bahrain, India shot an identical 48.3% from both the 3PT line and 2PT territory.
Collective Team Effort
Besides Dagar, fellow guards Kanwar Gurbaz Sandhu and Muin Bek Hafeez too shot excellently from the field, while veteran centre Palpreet Singh was unstoppable in the paint. Singh grabbed a whopping 16 rebounds, including 5 on the offensive glass, to give India a winning advantage on the interior.
Not to be left behind, athletic small forward Pranav Prince chipped in with 11 points and 8 rebounds.
India Head Coach Scott Flemming will be mighty pleased with his young team embracing his ‘shoot-first’ philosophy, and delivering under immense pressure.
What’s Next?
No doubt, when the 2025 Asia Cup tips off in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia later this August, India will again find itself back amongst the bottom of the pile. So the next five months will be crucial to see how this team continues to grow from strength to strength.
Turnovers remain a problem for India. After a good job protecting the ball against Iraq, India gave away the ball 22 times against Bahrain. There’s also the big question of India’s depleted frontline, lacking any 7ft+ centers - which will simply not work against the tougher Asia and Oceanic competition ahead.
But for now, it is time to celebrate the Young Cagers’ 11th straight continental cup appearance.
India (Harsh Dagar 28 pts, Kanwar Gurbaz Singh Sandhu 15 pts, Palpreet Singh Brar 16 reb 8 pts, Muin Bek Hafeez 11 pts 8 reb, Pranav Prince 11 pts 8 reb) bt Bahrain (Mustafa Rashed 30, Mohammed Hamoda 11 pts, Devon Chism 10 reb) 81-77 [25-20, 14-16, 23-17, 19-24]
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