A chance missed

Mohammad Saifuddin could have sent a full-toss from 17-year old left-arm pacer Ghulam Mudassar anywhere, but the batsman pushed it gently towards point and could take only one run off the final delivery of the match as Bangladesh settled their last group encounter, against a formidable Pakistan, with a tie at the Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium in Cox's Bazar yesterday.

Requiring seven runs off the last six balls, Saifuddin and Nayeem Hasan managed five runs from five deliveries and then there was a message for Saifuddin from the locker room saying that he must run a single if the ball reached the keeper's hand. Ultimately, it seemed that Saifuddin stuck to the demand for one run despite getting a juicy ball that could have won the hosts' the match and seen them to the semifinal of the Emerging Teams Asia Cup as Group B champions.

Instead, Pakistan finished as champions of Group B due to a superior run-rate and will face off against Afghanistan -- who eliminated India after a two-wicket victory yesterday -- in the second semifinal at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong. Bangladesh will play the first semifinal against Sri Lanka, who defeated Malaysia by 205 runs to romp into the semifinals as Group A champions, at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. Both semifinals will be held tomorrow.

Facing a very good bowling attack, Bangladesh were on the brink of chasing down the 234-run target and captain Mominul Haque believed that they were deprived of a win due to a lack of experience about how to handle this kind of situation.

"I think pressure played some role and it might happen as this kind of situation is not common for the two batsmen at the crease. I think we can learn many things from this kind of match. Yes, nothing could have been better than winning, but a tie is also not a bad result if you consider the strength of the Pakistan bowling attack," said Mominul, who led from the front with a 91-ball 75 to take his team to a position to win the match.

Mohammad Mithun was the other notable scorer with a 68-ball 53, while Nazmul Hossain scored 30.

Selector and team manager Habibul Bashar also expressed his satisfaction over the team's performance.

"It is not easy to handle a genuine leg-spinner like Usama Mir, who has turn, flight and googlies in his arsenal, or an off-spinner like Bilal Asif. Their pace attack is also equally good, so I am happy with the way our batsmen handled them and I believe they got a good experience," said Bashar.

Mir bowled the penultimate over when Bangladesh needed 14 runs from two overs and he gave away seven runs with three leg-byes.

Earlier Pakistan recovered from 35 for four to score 233 runs thanks to an 86-run fifth-wicket partnership between Hammad Azam and Haris Sohail.