Bangladesh and Pakistan meet again in Asian Games cricket semi-final — both sides still winless in Japan
Bangladesh and Pakistan will play a T20 cricket semi-final at the Asian Games in Japan on Thursday, 1 October, even though rain has prevented either team from playing a single match so far. The last time these two sides met, at the 2023 Hangzhou Games, the bronze medal was decided off the final over.
A path to the semis without a ball bowled
Bangladesh reached the semi-final under unusual circumstances, with a fourth tournament match in a row called off due to rain. Their quarter-final against Malaysia in Nisshin was abandoned two hours before the toss, and players were told not to travel to the ground. Bangladesh advanced on seeding. The same happened across all four men's quarter-finals over two days — none was completed, so all four semi-finalists qualified by ranking rather than results. Pakistan and Bangladesh had themselves received byes into the quarter-final stage as seeded teams, and those matches were also lost to rain. As a result, neither side has yet played a game in Japan; Thursday's semi-final will be the first match of the tournament for both.
History repeating
The two teams last met at the Asian Games in October 2023 in Hangzhou, in a match that decided the bronze medal. Bangladesh needed 20 runs off the final over, and Yasir Ali struck Sufiyan Muqeem for 16 off the first four balls, including two sixes, before Rakibul Hasan hit the last ball for four to seal bronze. Both Yasir Ali and Muqeem are again part of their squads in Japan.
Squads and outlook
Bangladesh are led by Litton Das but will be without Najmul Hossain Shanto, who has been ruled out with a fever and infection; tests for flu and Covid-19 came back negative, and he was due to fly home to Dhaka. The squad retains experienced players — Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed and Rishad Hossain with the ball, and Tawhid Hridoy and Tanzid Hasan with the bat. Pakistan have left out several senior names, including Salman Ali Agha, Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shadab Khan. The side is captained by Sahibzada Farhan, this year's leading run-scorer at the T20 World Cup with 383 runs. He is joined by Saim Ayub, Usman Khan and Haider Ali in the batting, with Abrar Ahmed and Muqeem in the spin attack. According to the source, Pakistan hold the edge in batting depth while Bangladesh have the stronger bowling attack. The first semi-final starts at 9am local time, with India facing Sri Lanka in the second semi-final the same day. Bangladesh have previously won gold in 2010 and bronze in 2014 and 2023, while Pakistan returned from Hangzhou without a medal.
