Tigers Make It To The Asia Cup Final In Cricket
In the floodlight of Mirpur, Nasir Hossain, the 20-yr old Bangladeshi hit a length delivery from Sri Lankan pacer Lakmal to clear the fence, and with that thousands of green-red flags began waving in the hot and humid air of Dhaka.
What a spectacular win it was for the baby of the tournament, where their more fancied opponent Sri Lanka was threatening to take the match away by taking three wickets within 40. The tigers clawed back into the game from 135 for 5 to win it without any further damage. Anyone who had bet for Bangladesh to reach the Asia Cup final must have made a huge killing today, for it was against all the odds that they did it, and in the process they sent India, the current world champion packing home.
What a run Bangladesh had so far in this tournament! In the first match they lost against Pakistan from a winning position. Then against India they became the victor, but in the process they had lost their regular pacer Saiful Islam due to a shoulder injury. But today that became the blessing in disguise for them, Nazmul Hossain who was making his international comeback only because Saiful was injured, made a dream start by taking the scalps of cricket legends such as Jayawardene, Dilshan and Sangakkara. It was an uphill battle for Sri Lanka from that moment, but they were still able to put a respectable total of 232 on the board despite their early set back.
When rain shortened the match to 40 overs game, the tigers target became 212, increasing the asking-rate to 5.30 an over. Tamim Iqbal, who had scored two consecutive half-centuries in the previous matches, again gave his team a solid start, but when three quick wickets were down it again fell to the trusted hand of man of the match Shakib to steady the Bangladesh innings.
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