Daily Times

ABU DHABI: Bangladesh all out for 239 run in 48.5 overs against Pakistan in the last match of Super 4 phase of Asia Cup 2018 at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Raheem scored unbeaten 99 while Mohammad Mithun made 60 runs as both added 144 run match-saving partnership.

Junaid Khan, playing the first match of the tournament thrashed Pakistan and took 4 crucial wickets.

Bangladesh lost three early wickets after deciding to bat first against Pakistan in last match of Asia Cup 2018.

Bangladeshi opener Soumya Sarkar went back to the pavilion without opening his account in the third over after being caught by Fakhar Zaman on a delivery by Junaid Khan.

The second wicket fell when Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled Mominul Haque on a yoker in the fourth over or five runs.

Liton Das was the third batsman lost his wicket to Junaid Khan in the 5th over of the game.

Earlier, Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first against Pakistan in thier last Super 4 phase match in Asia Cup 2018 at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.

Pakistan and Bangladesh are head-to-head on Wednesday to book a place in the Asia Cup 2018 final.

The scenario is pretty simple; winner goes through to the final to face India, while the loser goes back home. In their Super Four fixtures, both Pakistan and Bangladesh have lost once and won once.

Pakistan defeated Afghanistan in a nail-bitter, while Bangladesh too inflicted loss on the Afghan to keep their hopes alive. The common thing between the two teams is that both have lost to India.

For Pakistan, the case is worse as it has lost twice against India in the Asia Cup and that too, pretty badly. A third go at the arch-rivals, given the green-team manages to overpower Bangladesh, could either end in a whitewash or vengeance, but for now, all eyes are on today’s potential eliminator.

Coach Mickey Arthur is confident that Pakistan will beat Bangladesh in the Super Four match today and then it will take revenge against India in the final.

Moreover, the coach said that Pakistan’s loss against India on September 23 was the worst defeat of his coaching career. He added that if the team had taken early wickets, then the situation might have been different at that time.

Captain Sarfaraz, who has been under-fire for failing to perform in the tournament has been silent. But former Indian captain Saurav Ganguly has said cricketers like Sarfaraz ‘are not born everyday’ and that he is a great captain.

There is no doubt about Sarfaraz’s abilities as a leader or talents, but performances are key. Today is the day for him to prove critics wrong, and today might possibly be the biggest challenge of his life.