Pakistan vs Bangladesh, Highlights, Asia Cup 2018: Mashrafe Mortaza and Co enter final with 37-run win

Toggle between tabs to catch the latest scores and ball-by-ball commentary Preview: Pakistan and Bangladesh have had an ordinary tournament so far. Sarfraz Ahmed’s side has won only against the likes of Hong Kong and Afghanistan and Bangladesh have not showed great resilience with either bat or bat in the tournament so far. The two sides will be up against each other in what would be a virtual semi-final. The winner of the match will go on to play India in the final. [caption id=“attachment_5267051” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed and Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza. AFP[/caption] For Pakistan, there are many concerns currently, ranging from an out-of-form Mohammad Amir to top order not being able to convert good starts into big scores. Sarfraz, before the start of the tournament, had also said that he was concerned with the form of Amir. And the worry continues for him in the tournament. But despite the ordinary performance of the bowling attack, Pakistan batsman Shoaib Malik defened the bowlers. He said, “We have lost matches to a world class team [India], that doesn’t mean that we don’t have variety in bowling. It is just about the execution of the bowlers.” It will be interesting to see whether the execution comes into action on Wednesday or not. Bangladesh lost their regular opener Tamim Iqbal at the start of the tournament. Since then their struggle to get good starts with the bat have haunted them. Pakistan will be coming hard at them in Wednesday’s clash and they will have to be on their feet to make sure they cross this hurdle and meet India in the final. Mortaza would like to see the experience campaigners like Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim to come good in the team. Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes said that they are underdogs going into the game, “Pakistan is the favourite but that puts us in a nice position because they know we are a dangerous side. And being an underdog might work in our favour.” Bangladesh team: Liton Das, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Shakib Al Hasan, Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mashrafe Mortaza(c), Mehidy Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Nazmul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Abu Hider Rony, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque, Mosaddek Hossain, Ariful Haque Pakistan team: Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed(w/c), Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Sohail, Faheem Ashraf, Junaid Khan, Usman Khan, Shan Masood