Nisshin
\nPakistan defeated Bangladesh by six wickets in the first semi-final of the Asian Games men\u2019s cricket competition at Korogi Sports Club, Nisshin, on Thursday, booking a final clash with arch-rivals India.
\nSet to chase a daunting 112-run target in 13 overs, the Green Shirts comfortably knocked the winning runs for the loss of four wickets and three balls to spare.
\nThe Green Shirts, however, got off to a contrasting start to the pursuit as they lost captain Sahibzada Farhan (one) in the first over with just six runs on the board.
\nHis opening partner Maaz Sadaqat, who made a spirited start to his knock, which saw him smash two fours and a six, followed suit in the next over as he fell victim to Nasum Ahmed after scoring a seven-ball 15.
\nFollowing Sadaqat\u2019s dismissal, Saim Ayub walked out to bat at No.5 and made a similar start to his innings, hitting Mustafizur Rahman for two sixes and a four, but the experienced pacer hit back in the fourth over, sending him back to the pavilion for a 12-ball 21.
\nUsman Khan, who came out at No.3, was then involved in a brief 15-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Hasan Nawaz until getting dismissed by Rishad Hossain on the first delivery of the seventh over, with the scoreboard reading 53\/4.
\nHis dismissal paved the way for Abdul Samad to walk out at No.6, and the right-handed batter, alongside Nawaz, turned the game on its head with belligerent hitting.
\nThe duo outclassed Bangladesh\u2019s bowling attack and ultimately steered Pakistan over the line with an unbeaten 69-run partnership, which came off just 32 deliveries.
\nSamad, who was the core aggressor of the match-winning stand, top-scored for Pakistan with an unbeaten 30 off 15 deliveries, studded with five fours and a six, while Hasan contributed with 27 not out from 22 balls.
\nFor Bangladesh, Mahedi Hasan, Rahman, Hossain and Ahmed could pick up a wicket apiece.
\nIn a match reduced to 13 overs per side due to a wet outfield, Pakistan captain Sahibzada Farhan won the toss and elected to field first, and Bangladesh, in response, accumulated 111\/7 in their 20 overs.
\nThe Tigers got off to a cautious start to their innings with their opening pair of Saif Hassan and Tanzi Hasan Tamim putting together a 17-run partnership until Arafat Minhas drew the first breakthrough for Pakistan by dismissing the latter in the second over, who could make seven off five deliveries.
\nBangladesh then suffered two more setbacks in quick succession as Saim Ayub cleaned up their captain Litton Das (two), while Minhas sent back middle-order batter Parvez Hossain Emon (one), and consequently slipped down to 21\/3.
\nFollowing the early stutter, Towhid Hridoy joined opener Saif in the middle, and the duo launched Bangladesh\u2019s recovery by putting together a 24-run partnership for the fourth wicket, which culminated with the opener\u2019s dismissal off Sufiyan Muqeem in the seventh over. Hassan remained a notable run-getter for Bangladesh with a 17-ball 19, featuring two sixes and a four.
\nHridoy then joined forces with Mosaddek Hossain, and the duo ensured the flow of runs for Bangladesh with a quickfire 53-run partnership for the fifth wicket before both fell victim to Muqeem in the penultimate over.
\nThe middle-order batter remained the top-scorer for Bangladesh with 42 off just 25 deliveries, studded with four sixes and two fours, while Mosaddek contributed with a 16-ball 11.
\nLater, Mahedi Hasan and Rishad Hossain, who made an unbeaten eight and two, respectively, added valuable runs to Bangladesh\u2019s total at the backend.
\nMuqeem was the standout bowler for Pakistan as he picked up three wickets for 26 runs in his three overs, followed by Minhas with two, while Ayub made one scalp.<\/p>\n
India book final spot
\nMeanwhile, India booked their place in the final after defeating Sri Lanka by 124 runs in the second semi-final. India set Sri Lanka a target of 170 runs, but the latter were bowled out for 45 as India secured a comprehensive victory.
\nThe Asian Games men\u2019s cricket final between Pakistan and India will be played on October 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nisshin Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by six wickets in the first semi-final of the Asian Games men\u2019s cricket competition at Korogi Sports Club, Nisshin, on Thursday, booking a final clash with arch-rivals India. Set to chase a daunting 112-run target in 13 overs, the Green Shirts comfortably knocked the winning runs for the loss of four …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":103785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103768"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103789,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103768\/revisions\/103789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}