DUBAI: Pakistan will face India in the Asia Cup final for the first time after their bowlers made amends for poor batting to upstage Bangladesh by 11 runs in a make-or-break Super Fours contest on Thursday.

Bangladesh fast bowler Taskin Ahmed grabbed 3-28 as Pakistan batters were sloppy on a sticky Dubai stadium pitch, managing a modest total of 135-8 that did not look a possibility when they were reeling at 46-4 at the halfway stage of their innings.

Pakistan staged a fight back through pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi (3-17) and Haris Rauf (3-33) to keep Bangladesh down to 124-9 in 20 overs and set up a mouthwatering clash with India on Sunday, where they will hope to make it third time lucky against their arch-rivals.

Pakistan’s second win in the Super Four stage set them up for a third encounter against India. They have lost both previous meetings with their neighbours so far in the tournament, with the two matches marred by controversy.

India players refused to shake hands with Pakistan after the first game and the two sides also did not shake hands after the second.

Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha said he looks forward to meeting India again.

“We are very excited,” said Salman. “We know what we need to do, and we are a good enough team to beat anyone, and we will come on Sunday and try to beat them.

“If we can win these kind of games, then we must be a special team. We were like 10-15 runs short, there’s no way I’m going to deny that. But I knew if we bowl like that, we can create pressure. In a game like this, when it’s almost a semi-final, when you create pressure up front, it’s hard to chase.”

Bangladesh captain Jaker Ali rued his team’s batting performance. “As a batting unit, we lost the last two matches,” he said. “As a bowling unit, we do very good work, the boys are doing really well.”

It was a virtual semi-final between two sides who both managed to beat Sri Lanka in the Super Fours but proved no match for defending champions India in the Twenty20 tournament.

Taskin was well supported by spinners Rishad Hossain (2-18) and Mahedi Hasan (2-28) to keep Pakistan in check after they were sent in to bat.

Pakistan made five runs from the first 10 balls, losing two key wickets in the process as Taskin removed opener Sahibzada Farhan off the fourth ball of the match for four while Mahedi had Saim Ayub for his fourth duck of the tournament.

Fakhar Zaman scored 13 and Salman 19 as Pakistan tottered at 49-5 in the 11th over.

Pakistan’s lower order, however, did not give up so easily and it was a seventh-wicket stand of 38 between Mohammad Haris (31) and Mohammad Nawaz (25) that helped Pakistan add 52 in the last five overs.

Haris hit two boundaries and a six while Nawaz’s 15-ball knock had two sixes and a boundary.

Shaheen, dropped twice by Bangladesh fielders, hit two sixes in his rapid 13-ball 19.

Almost mirroring their opponents’ shambolic start, Bangladesh, rattled by Shaheen’s early double strike, slumped to 29-3 in the sixth over.

Shaheen dismissed Parvez Hossain Emon and Towhid Hridoy to deny Bangladesh a strong start and went on to dismiss Shamim Hossain, who top-scored for Bangladesh with a fluent 30.

“Early on, as a team, we need breakthroughs and I go for that,” Shaheen said. “In a small total, you need early breakthroughs and we planned that. Three overs in the powerplay — that is the difference.”

Haris then mowed down Bangladesh’s lower order to secure their passage to the final.

SCOREBOARD

PAKISTAN:

Sahibzada Farhan c Rishad b Taskin 4

Fakhar Zaman c Tanzim b Rishad 13

Saim Ayub c Rishad b Mahedi 0

Salman Ali Agha c Jaker b Mustafizur 19

Hussain Talat c Saif b Rishad 3

Mohammad Haris c&b Mahedi 31

Shaheen Shah Afridi c Jaker b Taskin 19

Mohammad Nawaz c Parvez b Taskin 25

Faheem Ashraf not out 14

Haris Rauf not out 3

EXTRAS (W-4) 4

TOTAL (for eight wickets, 20 overs) 135

DID NOT BAT: Abrar Ahmed

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-4 (Sahibzada), 2-5 (Saim), 3-29 (Fakhar), 4-33 (Hussain), 5-49 (Salman), 6-71 (Shaheen), 7-109 (M. Haris), 8-120 (Nawaz)

BOWLING: Taskin 4-0-28-3, Mahedi 4-0-28-2 (1w), Tanzim 4-0-28-0 (1w), Mustafizur 4-0-33-1 (2w), Rishad 4-0-18-2

BANGLADESH:

Saif Hassan c Saim b Haris 18

Parvez Hossain c Nawaz b Shaheen 0

Towhid Hridoy c Ayub b Shaheen 5

Mahedi Hasan c Hussain b Nawaz 11

Nurul Hasan c Nawaz b Saim 16

Shamim Hossain c Hussain b Shaheen 30

Jaker Ali c Nawaz b Saim 5

Tanzim Hasan b Haris 10

Rishad Hossain not out 16

Taskin Ahmed b Haris 4

Mustafizur Rahman not out 6

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2) 3

TOTAL (for nine wickets, 20 overs) 124

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Parvez), 2-23 (Towhid), 3-29 (Saif), 4-44 (Mahedi), 5-63 (Nurul), 6-73 (Jaker), 7-97 (Shamim), 8-97 (Tanzim), 9-101 (Taskin)

BOWLING: Shaheen 4-0-17-3, Faheem 2-0-18-0 (1w), Haris 4-0-33-3, Abrar 3-0-23-0, Nawaz 3-0-14-1, Saim 4-0-16-2

RESULT: Pakistan won by 11 runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Shaheen Shah Afridi

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2025