Bangladesh beat Pakistan to reach Asia Cup final
Mushfiqur Rahim’s 99 and a four-wicket haul from Mustafizur Rahman sent Bangladesh to the final of the Asia Cup 2018 as they beat Pakistan by 37 runs in their crunch Super Four match on Wednesday.
It was a victory that would lift the morale of the squad on many fronts, not only because they made it without the likes of the injured Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan, but also because of the way everyone contributed to the win, fighting back after making individual mistakes.
The beginning of the day was far from ideal for the Tigers, who opted to bat first after captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza had won the toss yet again.
Junaid Khan dealt the first blow, in just the day’s second over, removing Soumya Sarkar who could not even score a single run.
In the next over, Shaheen Afridi dismantled the wickets of Mominul Haque while Junaid did the same to Liton Das the following over and the Tigers were three wickets down on 12.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Mohammad Mithun then changed the game, setting up a 144-run partnership in the fourth wicket.
Mithun hit 60 off 84 balls before giving a return catch to Hasan Ali, but Mushfiq kept going, only to be denied a century by Shaheen Shah Afridi as wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed took a routine catch.
Mushfiq's brilliant innings was studded with nine fours before he became the first Bangladeshi batsman to fall at 'Nervous 99'.
Mahmudullah then added 25, but Pakistan bowlers returned to their game to bundle Bangladesh out for 239.
Junaid Khan was Pakistan’s best bowler, bagging four wickets for only 19 runs in 9 overs. Shaheen and Hasan Ali claimed two each.
In their chase, Pakistan also faced early disaster. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, tasked to open the bowling, got out-of-form Fakhar Zaman in the innings’ fifth ball as Rubel Hossain took a marvelous catch and Mustafiz trapped Babar Azam leg before the wicket three balls later.
Two overs later, Mustafiz struck again to send Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed back to the pavilion, with the score on 18.
The fourth wicket could have fallen soon after, but Mahmudullah, one of the team’s best fielders, misfielded and a run out chance was gone. Shoaib Malik and opener Imam-ul-Haq then added 67 in the fourth wicket to give Pakistan some hope. Rubel Hossain broke the stand and Soumya Sarkar now somewhat amended his batting failure by picking up the wicket of Shadab Khan, leaving Pakistan five wickets down on 94.
Imam kept up the fight, adding 71 more with Asif Ali (31), but once Miraz broke the partnership by getting the latter stumped thanks to some nice work by Liton Das, Pakistan lost belief they could win.
Imam also got out in similar fashion in the next over as Mahmudullah got him and from there Pakistan had no way back.
They could only manage 202 for 9 at the end of their 50 overs, as Bangladesh wildly celebrated their win.
Imam had hit only two fours and a six in his 105-ball 80-run innings.
Miraz ended the day with two wickets for only 28, giving Mustafiz the best support in containing the Pakistan batsmen.
Bangladesh will now face India in the final on Friday, a repeat of last edition’s title-decider, although that was a T20 edition.
