Pakistan won the Asia Cup Final in a closely contested match against Bangladesh at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. Chasing 237 for the win, Bangladesh fell short by 3 runs.
After being put into bat by Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim, who always liked to chase throughout the tournament, Pakistan could not bat impressively against accurate bowling and alert fielding from the hosts.
Nazimuddin’s clueless crawl of an innings put pressure on Bangladesh despite Tamim Iqbal’s fourth consecutive half-century and left them facing a daunting asking-rate at the halfway mark of their chase. Tamim’s departure to Younis Khan’s third sharp catch further increased the pressure on the hosts in their first chase in a tournament final. Bangladesh still had some of their best batsmen intact, with Nasir Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan in the middle, and Mushfiqur Rahim to follow.
While the plan could have been for Nazimuddin to be the anchor and Tamim to be the aggressor, the former became completely subdued after being beaten four times in five deliveries by Umar Gul in the second over, leaving run-making duties completely to his partner.
Tamim responded by hitting Gul out of the attack with four fours in nine deliveries. All shots bore the mark of a man in top form, with the highlight being a punch through point played with his feet off the ground. Nazimuddin continued to dig a deeper hole for himself, treating Mohammad Hafeez with utmost respect and allowing him to get through five overs for only 10 runs.
Realisation belatedly dawned on him, but by then, he had got into such a rut that he was mistiming almost everything. He had already survived a close lbw shout against Saeed Ajmal and had been put down by Hammad Azam at third man.
Bangladesh were not able to get anywhere close to dominating, which they should have given the way Tamim was batting. In the same Shahid Afridi over in which Tamim brought up his fourth half-century of the tournament, off 48 balls, Younis finally ended Nazimuddin’s misery with a running catch at long-off. By then, Nazimuddin had used up 52 balls for his 16.
Jahurul Islam did not last long against Ajmal’s doosra and gave Younis his second catch, at slip. With Nasir Hossain also struggling to get going, Tamim decided to take on Gul but only found extra cover with a mis-hit pull, Younis diving forward to take another excellent catch.
Carrying his nation’s hopes once again, Shakib walked in and pulled his first delivery for four. Afridi, though, made Shakib play a maiden in the 25th over. Bangladesh were still a long way from unprecedented glory, but as long as Shakib was batting there was hope.
Bangladesh were favourites to crack on their biggest day as a cricketing nation. A fourth consistent performance on the trot was expected to be beyond them. But they gave an extremely creditable account of themselves with the ball and in the field, apart from a chaotic last over. Pakistan are masters of the big moment, though, and somehow find a player who performs. Wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed, who had a highest ODI score of 24 and a strike-rate of 62.35 before this game, turned 199 for 8 into 236 for 9 with a 52-ball 46. Pakistan were still a few runs short on a pitch which has been favourable to the chasing side in this tournament.
The talk had been about whether Bangladesh would be able to handle the nerves of only their second ODI tournament final, but their bowling was tight and their fielding was energetic, as it had been throughout the tournament. Pakistan were not allowed to get away, except in the last over, and could be left to rue an innings of several wasted starts. After having had a steady tournament, Bangladesh’s leading ODI wicket-taker Abdur Razzak rose to the occasion, with figures of 10-3-26-2. Shakib Al Hasan weighed in with 2 for 39 but Shahadat Hossain proved expensive once again in a horror last over which contained two no-balls and went for 19.
Bangladesh’s discipline till then had kept Pakistan under relentless pressure. And that pressure had brought wickets. Their openers, Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed - who had a century and a double-century stand earlier in the tournament - failed to clear the infield in their attempts to hit out. Younis Khan and Umar Akmal got rough decisions, Misbah-ul-Haq’s hesitation ran him out, and Hammad Azam and Shahid Afridi threw it away.
Bangladesh had won two games and come close in a third while chasing in this tournament and Mushfiqur Rahim immediately chose to bowl again. Mashrafe Mortaza had two close lbw appeals in the opening over against Nasir Jamshed but ended up conceding two fours.
Both appeals were turned down but Mortaza was not to be denied in his third over when Jamshed charged at an offcutter, only to scoop it up to cover. An over earlier, Hafeez had survived after appearing to have been caught plumb in front on the back leg by Nazmul Hossain’s incoming delivery.
-pakobserver.net
