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Bangladesh missed out on a place in the Asian Games men’s cricket final after suffering a six-wicket defeat to Pakistan in a rain-hit semi-final at the Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin on Thursday.
Towhid Hridoy’s 42 off 25 balls helped Bangladesh post 111-7 in 13 overs, but Pakistan chased down the target with nine balls to spare with a high-octane batting display.
Bangladesh will now face either India or Sri Lanka in the bronze-medal match on October 3.
The match was reduced to 13 overs per side after the start was delayed by more than an hour due to a wet outfield.
Asked to bat first on a wicket that had remained under covers for much of the build-up to the match, Bangladesh’s top order struggled and slipped to 21-3 by the end of the 3.5-over powerplay, despite scoring 17 in the first 1.3 overs.
Tanzid Hasan failed to clear extra cover off Arafat Minhas before Litton Das was bowled by Saim Ayub while attempting a reverse hit. Minhas struck again to have Parvez Hossain Emon caught at deep square leg.
Saif Hassan, who held one end together, was trapped lbw by Sufyan Moqim for 19 off 17 balls.
From 45-4, Bangladesh were revived by Hridoy, who scored 31 off 15 balls in a 53-run partnership with Mosaddek Hossain off 30 balls.
Mosaddek fell for 11 off 16 soon after Hridoy’s departure, but Mahedi Hasan struck two boundaries to take Bangladesh to 111-7. Moqim finished with a figure of 3-26, while Minhas took 2-23.
Pakistan also lost an early wicket when Mahedi had Sahibzada Farhan caught for one in the first over. Nasum Ahmed struck in the following over to remove Maaz Sadaqat, but not before the opener scored 15 off seven balls.
Pakistan maintained their aggressive approach despite losing Usman Khan for 14 off nine and Saim Ayub for 21 off 12.
An unbeaten 59-run partnership off 32 balls between Hasan Nawaz and Abdul Samad completed the chase.
Samad remained unbeaten on 30 off 15 balls, hitting a six and four consecutive fours off Mustafizur Rahman in the 10th over, which cost Bangladesh 23 runs.
Mustafiz, in fact, gave away 41 runs from his two overs while picking up a wicket.
Nawaz finished unbeaten on 27 off 22 balls, hitting two fours and two sixes.
