Bangladesh cricket team secured a place in the final round of
the 14th
edition of the Asia Cup after beating Pakistan by 37 runs at Sheikh Zayed
Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi on Wednesday (September 26). Bangladesh Tigers reached
the Asia Cup final for the third time in the last four seasons. Earlier in 2012
and 2016, they finished the tournaments as runners-up being beaten by Pakistan
and India respectively. Now, they will take on India at Dubai International
Cricket Stadium on Friday (September 28) with a hope of clinching their first
ever major trophy.
Bangladesh ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza won the toss and
decided to bat first. The ‘Bengal Tigers’ started off poorly as they were
reduced to 12-3 losing the wickets of Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque and Liton
Das inside five overs. It could have been much worse if Mushfiqur Rahim (99)
and Mohammad Mithun (60) did not score half centuries. This duo made a 144-run
partnership for the fourth wicket, their second 100 plus partnership of the
tournament. With the fall of Mithun, who was caught and bowled by Hasan Ali,
this crucial partnership was broken. Mushfiqur missed out on his seventh ODI
century for just one run as he was dismissed by Shaheen Shah Afridi. He also
became the first Bangladeshi cricketer to be dismissed for 99 in ODIs. If he
could complete the century, it would become his second ton of the tournament. Tailenders-
Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mashrafe- played useful innings, but
Pakistani bowlers picked the lower orders up quickly and bundled them out for
239 runs.
Pakistani fast bowler Junaid Khan finished with an impressive
figure of 4-19. However, he was supported by other two fast bowlers- Shaheen
Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali who claimed two wickets each while Shadab Khan took
one wicket.
Coming to chase Bangladesh’s 240-run target, Pakistan lost three
early wickets of Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam and Sarfraz Ahmed for 18 runs in just
3.3 overs. The team could not come out of that wound as they lost wicket at a
regular interval though Imam-ul-Haq, nephew of Inzamam-ul-Haq, remained
steady at one end. He scored 83 runs off 105 balls and made two good
partnerships with Shoaib Malik and Asif Ali. With Shoaib Malik, he added 67
runs in the fourth wicket while with Asif Ali, he made a 71-run sixth wicket
partnership and kept Pakistan’s hope of winning the match alive. Shoaib Malik
and Asif Ali scored 30 and 31 runs respectively. Playing their full quota of
overs, Pakistan scored 202 runs losing 9 wickets.
Bangladeshi
left-arm fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman grabbed four wickets conceding 43 runs
in 10 overs while Mehidy Hasan Miraz took two
wickets giving 28 runs. Rubel Hossain, Mahmudullah and Soumya Sarkar took one
wicket each.
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