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History will repeat itself, as the 2016 Asia Cup finalists meet again in the 2018 edition.
It is Bangladesh's third final in last four editions. They will now face India one last time in this Asia Cup on September 28.
Riding on Mushfiqur Rahim's 99 and Mustafizur's four-for, Bangladesh made a remarkable comeback to knock out Pakistan in a direct shootout.
After having a worst of start to the match, Bangladesh's win is really commendable.
They received a huge blow prior to the match when all-rounder Shakib-Al-Hasan was ruled out of the tournament owing to his finger injury.
Winning the toss and batting first, they had the poorest of start as their top three batsmen were back in the dugout even before the fifth over was completed.
Soumya Sarkar scored a duck, while Liton Das and Mominul Haque could not contribute more as Bangladesh were reduced to 12-3 after 4.3 overs.
However, their most dependable batsman, Mushfiqur Rahim, performed a rescue act along with Mohammad Mithun as the duo together stitched a 144 run partnership.
At one stage, when the duo was batting, Bangladesh looked good enough to breach the 270 mark. However, Mithun's and Rahim's untimely dismissal led to Bangladesh downfall. Mithun made a valiant 60 from 84 balls. Rahim was dismissed on 99, in the process becoming the first Bangladeshi batsman to be out on 99. This was also the first such instance in the Asia Cup history.
After the duo's departure, Bangladesh lost quick wickets, before they were bundled out for 239 in 48.5 overs.
Junaid Khan picked up a four-fer in his comeback match, while Mehedi Hasan and Shaheen Afridi took two wickets each.
Chasing 240, Pakistan replicated Bangladesh's performance, as they were reduced to 18-3 in 3.3 overs. Shaoib Malik and Imam-ul-Haq tried to stabilize the innings with a 67 run stand. After Malik's dismissal, Imam remained and with Asif Ali, put on a 71 run partnership. But after Asif's dismissal, Imam got out too. No other Pakistani batsman could make a significant contribution.
Consequently, Pakistan played out full overs scoring 202-9. Mustafizur was the pick of Bangladesh bowler as his figure read 10-2-43-4.
After the match, Pakistan captain Sarfaraz said,
"We are obviously not feeling good. As a team, we have not done well. Our performance has been very poor. As a player, I have done really badly too. I should have done better. We were poor in every facet of the game. There were a lot of batting collapses for us in the tournament. Fakhar is our main batsman, he failed to perform in this tournament and Shadab was hit by injury too. We have to play well to beat good teams. Our batting was the main reason for our defeat in this tournament. Shaheen Afridi is a talented youngster, we have given him opportunities to showcase his talent and he has done well too."
While elated Mortaza said,
"Normally I start with the ball, but today we changed a bit with our bowling plan today. Started with Fizz and Mehidy. The bowlers have done a good job. Mushy batted so well and Mithun also batted well. In the end, the bowlers are brilliant. We are proud of our fielding today. We haven't seen such quality in a long time. Hopefully, we will continue our fielding like this. We still have to improve in our batting and bowling in some parts. I was lucky I didn't drop that catch (Shoaib Malik catch). He was in such good form and if he didn't get out, he would have carried on. We all know that India is a serious side and the number one side the world. We will be missing Shakib and Tamim but the boys have shown character and one match to go, and hopefully, the boys will play hard."
Twitter was heaped with praises and accolades as Bangladesh earned a fantastic win.
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