Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s fast bowling duo of Haris Rauf and Shaheen Shah Afridi claimed three wickets each as the side clawed their way back from the brink to seal a dramatic 11-run win over Bangladesh in a tense Asia Cup match to earn a blockbuster title clash against archrivals India. It is the first time in 17 editions of the Asia Cup that India and Pakistan will square off in a title clash. Shaheen led the charge by rattling Bangladesh’s top order, who also contributed to their own downfall with poor shot selection and miscommunication.
Shamim Hossain offered brief resistance, but his dismissal to Shaheen triggered a collapse, as Bangladesh ended up at 124/9 in 20 overs. While Shaheen took 3-17, Rauf ended up with 3-33, while Saim Ayub and Mohammad Nawaz were amongst the wicket-takers in the middle overs, as Pakistan held their nerve. Bangladesh’s chase got off to a rocky start as Parvez Emon fell for a duck to Shaheen in the opening over. Saif Hassan briefly counterattacked with a six off Faheem Ashraf, before taking a four and six off Rauf.
After Pakistan burnt a review on a caught-behind appeal off Hassan, they soon made amends for it as Towhid Hridoy skied one to backward point off Shaheen. Rauf then removed Saif by having him caught at point, as Bangladesh ended the Power-play at 36/3. Bangladesh’s chase suffered another setback as Mahedi Hasan perished attempting an ambitious inside-out loft over extra cover off Nawaz and gave a regulation catch to sweeper cover. Their chase continued to unravel as Nurul Hasan backed away to loft off Ayub, but only managed to slice it to wide long-off, while Jaker Ali holed out in the deep against the same bowler.
