e-News® | The NEWS Company…Live from the venue, Mirpur, DHAKA, March 02, 2016 : Bangladesh have lost the wicket of opener Tamim Iqbal in their chase of 130 against Pakistan to reach the Asia Cup final. After hitting Mohammad Amir for a six with a flick in the first over, Tamim (7) was trapped in front by Mohammad Irfan in the next.
Bangladesh were 17 for 1 in 2 overs with Soumya Sarkar (7) and Sabbir Rahman (3) in the middle at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Wednesday. Earlier, a fine unbeaten Sarfraz Ahmed half-century had helped Pakistan to a fighting 129 for 7. Bangladesh bowlers put the Pakistan batsmen to the sword early on at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Wednesday.
But the Pakistanis, who had been reeling on 28 for 4 at one stage, recovered through a superb partnership between Sarfraz (58) and Shoaib Malik (41). Bangladesh picked up three early wickets to put Pakistan under pressure. Al-Amin Hossain and Taskin Ahmed produced extra bounce from the pitch early on.
Al-Amin struck with his first ball. He got it to rise a long way and Manzoor (1), surprised by the extra bounce, gloved it to wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim. Looking dangerous, opener Sharjeel Khan (10) then slogged across the line to an Arafat Sunny delivery in his first over but missed it completely as the ball crashed onto the middle stump.
Mohammad Hafeez (2) was unlucky when he was adjudged leg-before off a Mashrafe in-swinger as replays showed the ball would have gone over the stumps. Pakistan slipped into trouble when Umar Akmal (4) danced down the track to Taskin Ahmed but ended up skying it to Shakib Al Hasan who took a well-judged catch at deep point. Sarfaraz and Malik showed maturity to put 70 on the scoreboard to recover from the setback with a 70-run stand.
The duo mixed aggression with caution as Mashrafe kept changing his attack from both ends. With the stage set for a late onslaught, Malik (41) played across the line to Arafat Sunny and holed out to Sabbir Rahman at deep square leg before Al-Amin removed Afridi for a duck. Sarfaraz then reached his second Twenty20 International half-century off 40 balls. He laced his innings with five boundaries and two sixes.
Bangladesh bowled a staggering 57 dot balls in total. Taskin bowled 16 of those. Al-Amin was the pick of the bowlers, returning 3 for 25 in 4 overs. Sunny proved expensive for his two wickets while Taskin and Mashrafe chipped in with a wicket apiece.