Bangladesh’s lower-order batsmen kept their cool under pressure to beat Pakistan by five wickets and qualify for the Asia Cup Twenty20 final in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Soumya Sarkar made highest 48 runs in as many balls as Bangladesh reached 131-5 in 19.1 over after restricting Pakistan to 129-7 at the packed Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.Mahmudullah struck medium pacer Anwar Ali for a boundary to complete the win and remained not out on 22.
Mohammad Amir threatened to spoil the party when he returned for his second spell to bowl Soumya, who batted with ease to set up the chase nicely before a late hiccup.
When Mushfiqur (12) Rahim was adjudged leg before to a Shoaib Malik delivery that pitched outside the leg stump and was going high, Bangladesh finally began to feel some pressure.
With the asking run rate soaring high, Sakib al Hasan was expected to shift the next gear but he surprisingly struggled to find a way out.
Amir raised a big question over Sakib’s ability against quality pace attack bowling him out for eight with Bangladesh still needing 26 off 16 balls.
Skipper Mashrafee bin Mortaza, 12 not out, promoted himself up in the order despite not having the best reputation against pace bowling.
Mashrafee was not prepared to witness another tragedy that left entire Bangladesh crying four years ago at the same place as Bangladesh failed to score 19 runs needed in the last two overs in 2012 final against the same opponents.
He struck two boundaries in Amir’s next two balls after Sakib’s frustrating dismissal to release some pressure.
The match swung decisively to Bangladesh’s way was when Mashrafee and Mahmudullah scored 15 runs in Mohammad Sami’s next over, which included two no balls.
It left Bangladesh needing just three runs in the final over and Mahmudullah was not ready to wait very long.
His third unbeaten innings in as many matches earned Bangladesh their third consecutive Twenty20 win, only second time in their history.
As Mahmudullah hit the winning boundary it triggered a wild celebration in the dressing room and also in gallery, where prime minister Sheikh Hasina was among the attendance.
Pakistan, earlier recovered from a slow start to put a decent score thanks to an unbeaten half-century from wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed.
Bangladesh’s pace bowlers mounted enormous pressure to reduce Pakistan to 28-4 before Sarfraz and Shoaib Malik shared 70 runs for the fifth wicket.
Sarfraz hit 58 off 42 balls with five fours and two sixes while Malik added 41 off 31 balls as Pakistan scored 95 runs off last 10 overs.
Their first 10 overs yielded just 34 runs.
Al-Amin Hossain grabbed 3-25 runs while Arafat Sunny claimed 2-35 playing his first match in the tournament.
Taskin Ahmed conceded just two runs in his first three overs before finishing with 1-14.
Such a disciplined Bangladesh’s bowling was that they did not concede a single extra run, a rare feat if not unique.
Bangladesh will play their second Asia Cup final against India on March 6.
Pakistan will face Sri Lanka in the next match on Friday in what now turned out to be a routine affair as Bangladesh’s win means both the teams have been eliminated before the final.
The other finalists India will face UAE in the next match today.
-With New Age input
