PAK vs BAN | Twitter ready as Pakistan set up rivalry clash in Asia Cup final

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk,SportsCafe Editor

24

‌Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 11 runs in the 17th game of the Asia Cup and qualified for the Asia Cup 2025 final against India. Bangladesh bowlers' efforts go in vain as Pakistan pacers Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf's spells ensured Pakistan defend below-par score in a do-or-die fixture in Dubai.

Pakistan qualify for Asia Cup final with 11-run win against Bangladesh
‌Bangladesh won the toss and decided to put Pakistan into bat in the do-or-die fixture. The Bangladesh bowlers dominated the powerplay as Sahibazad Farhan and Saim Ayub were dismissed early in the powerplay. While Farhan was dismissed after slashing the ball straight to the point of Taskin Ahmed, Ayub was dismissed for a duck by Mahedi Hassan as the Green Shirts finished on a score of 27/2. The struggles of the Men in Green did not end there, as runs were hard to come by and wickets started to fall at regular intervals. While Rishad Hossain managed to get the key wicket of Fakhar Zaman and Hussain Talat, Mustafizur ended the misery of Pakistani skipper Salman Agha, who struggled on a score of 19 off 23 deliveries. With this, Pakistan lost half their side for a score of 55 in 12 overs. While it seemed the Men in Green would be restricted under 120, Mohammad Haris and Mohammad Nawaz formed a decent partnership, and a few dropped chances gave some hope to the team to get to the 140 mark. Unfortunately, as soon as the partnership started to look dangerous, the Tigers came back in the last three overs and dismissed both set batters. With Haris giving a simple catch back to Mahedi in the 18th and Nawaz’s being dismissed in the 19th, the tail was exposed with the score reading 124/8. In the end, the end Men in Green were restricted to a score of 135/8. 
Though Bangladesh would be pleased with how their bowlers had performed, the same could not be said about the batters. It all started with Shaheen Afridi, who took a couple of wickets in the power play to put the Tigers on the back foot.  Haris Rauf also joined the wickets column as Saif Hasan was dismissed in the last over of the powerplay, as the score read 36/3. The struggles in the middle overs, as well as the spinners, came to the party as well. With Nawaz getting the wicket of Mahedi after he sliced the ball straight into the hands of the sweeper cover, and Nurul Hasan getting dismissed by Ayub in the 12th over, Bangladesh were caught in a tricky position at 64/5. Though there was a bit of hope for Bangladesh with Shamim Hossain keeping the game alive with a 30-run cameo, Pakistan pacers Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf kept their nerves as Afridi dismissed Shamim with a well-disguised slower one and Rauf got a couple of wickets in the 19th and brought the game back in Pakistan's grasp. Though there were a few big shots in the middle by Mustafizur and Rishad, the team still fell short in the end as Pakistan won the game by 11 runs and qualified for the finala against arch rivals India. 

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