Bangladesh ready for Asia Cup decider
▶ All-rounder picks out Bangladesh’s area for improvement ahead of Pakistan Asia Cup decider
Bangladesh “need to improve” their top-order batting if they are to beat Pakistan and take their place in the Asia Cup final, according to all-rounder Mahmudullah.
Bangladesh produced a thrilling three-run win over Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi on Sunday to set up a Super Four winner-takes-all contest with Pakistan. The winner of tomorrow’s clash at Zayed Cricket Stadium will take on India in the final. Mahmudullah, who was named man-of-the-match against Afghanistan for his crucial 74-run knock, is confident of Bangladesh’s chances of reaching Friday’s final in Dubai, although he believes there are areas his side need to work on.
After Sunday’s match, he said: “Our batting, particularly at the top, hasn’t fired and that’s an area we need to improve before the next game. One of the reasons is we couldn’t do much was because of a very tight schedule.
“We had to play three games in four days in energy sapping conditions and also a lot of travel between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
“We can start planning for Pakistan from now. We all know they are very good side and need to bring our A-game against them.”
Mahmudullah joined Imrul Kayes (72 not out) when Bangladesh were struggling at 87-5 in the 19th over.
The pair added 128 runs in 164 balls for the sixth wicket to ultimately turn the game in Bangladesh’s favour.
“Our objective at that point was to bat as long as possible and to keep the scoreboard ticking, and I’m glad I was able to do that. The weather was hot and I was feeling a bit dried up. But we did it in the end.”
Despite his star turn against Afghanistan, which also included bowling figures of 1-17 from five overs, Mahmudullah, 32, credited his team’s bowling unit for delivering victory.
“It’s always good to win for the country especially when we had to comeback from a very difficult situation,” he said. “Our bowlers did very well to win this game for us. They had the Afghanistan batting always behind the required run-rate.
“They did a great job, especially Mustafizur [Rahman]. Mashrafe [Mortaza] is our best bowler and provided us with two vital breaks and Mashrafe [Mortaza] because he had to bowl with a hamstring niggle.”
It was Mustafizur who held his nerve to bowl the final over when Afghanistan required eight runs to win.
Captain Mashrafe described him as a “magician” after the match, adding that Mustafizur had been struggling with cramp which meant he was unable to bowl his full 10 overs.
Hashmatullah Shahidi, who top scored for Afghanistan with 71, his third 50 in a row, was disappointed after his side lost a second tight match in three days having gone down to Pakistan in the final over on Friday.
“We lost the last two games in a close finish but we played well. However, luck wasn’t our way,” he said. “The target of 250 was achievable but we made some mistakes, instead of going for singles and doubles in the last few overs.”
Captain Asghar Afghan admitted his side had missed another great opportunity. He said: “It was a painful game. Eight off six is not difficult.
“Everything was going to plan. Again, we lost in the last over. Again, the batsmen going for big shots at the end, which didn’t work.”
Afghanistan conclude their Asia Cup campaign with a dead-rubber clash against India in Dubai today.