In the penultimate Super 4 game of Asia Cup 2025, Pakistan will square off against Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in what is a virtual semi-final clash with the winner meeting India in Sunday’s final while the loser goes home. It is the battle Pakistan against Bangla Tigers. Two mercurial and unpredictable sides will contest against each other.
Both Pakistan and Bangladesh lost to India in the Super 4 stage and both beat Sri Lanka as the Lankan Lions have been eliminated from the tournament. Pakistan have played good cricket in the last two matches pushing India and then beating Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi while Bangladesh have done well against Afghanistan in the group stage and Sri Lanka in the Super 4 stage, but went down to India last night. The stage is set for what should be a good battle and Bangladesh believes they can beat Pakistan having beaten them in a recent bilateral series in Bangladesh.
Overview
Let’s talk about Bangladesh first. Fresh off a heavy defeat against India in the previous game, Bangladesh return to action in less than 24 hours as they face Pakistan in a virtual semi-final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai on Thursday September 25th. The equation is simple, the winner will go into the final and the loser goes home.
Both teams like we mentioned lost to India, who have already sealed a spot in the final by winning their first two Super Four games. They now await their opponents in the summit clash. In their last outing, Bangladesh were comprehensively outplayed by India as they lost the contest by 41 runs.
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field first. They took the field without their regular skipper Litton Das, who was ruled out with a back injury sustained during a training session on the eve of the game. Jaker Ali stepped in as stand-in captain and donned the gloves. However, he made a costly error in the third over by dropping the in-form Abhishek Sharma, who was on just seven at that time.
That drop proved expensive, as Abhishek went on to score another half-century in the tournament adding 66 more runs after the reprieve. Bangladesh conceded 96 runs in the first 10 overs, struggling to contain India early on. To their credit they pulled things back really well in the second half of the innings conceding just 72 runs and taking four wickets in the final 10 overs.
Rishad Hossain was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh claiming two wickets. Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur Rahman, and Mohammad Saifuddin chipped in with a wicket each to help restrict India to 168/6 in 20 overs. Chasing 169 for the win, Bangladesh lost Tanzid Hasan Tamim in the first over. Parvez Hossain Emon added 40 runs for the second wicket with Saif Hassan, but once he fell for 21, things quickly went downhill for Bangladesh.
None of the other batters managed to reach double figures. Saif Hassan despite being dropped four times, top scored with a fighting 69 off 51 balls. However, with no support from the other end, Bangladesh were bundled out for 127 in 19.3 overs.
On the other hand, Pakistan bounced back strongly in their last outing against Sri Lanka, following a heavy defeat to India. Bowling first, the Men in Green restricted Sri Lanka to 133/8 in 20 overs. Shaheen Afridi roared back into form with a three-wicket haul, striking both with the new ball and at the death to finish with impressive figures of 3/28 from his four overs. Haris Rauf and Hussain Talat claimed two wickets each, while Abrar Ahmed chipped in with one wicket.
With the bat, Pakistan were in trouble early, as Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera made life difficult for the top order. At one stage, they were struggling at 80/5 in 11.1 overs, still needing 54 runs to win. But a composed, unbeaten 58-run stand between Hussain Talat and Mohammad Nawaz guided Pakistan to victory with two overs to spare, keeping their campaign alive and knocking Sri Lanka out of the tournament.
The stage is set for an epic battle and it remains to be seen which team comes out on top and book a place in the final against India on Sunday.
Head-To-Head
Pakistan and Bangladesh have in total played 25 matches against each other in T20Is and it is Pakistan who leads the face-off by winning 20 of those matches while Bangladesh has won a mere 5 games against Pakistan. But in the recently concluded T20I series in Bangladesh, it was Bangladesh who came out on top winning that series 2-1.
Pitch & Weather Report
The pitch in Dubai tends to suit the spinners more. The faster bowlers will get lateral movement early on and spinners have the stranglehold of proceedings in the middle overs. The batters have to apply themselves, get in and then only can play their strokes. The pitches have been mixed but also used surfaces as well. A score of 160-170 is competitive and the trend here is to chase although India won setting a total last night. Both captains may still prefer to chase.
The weather in Dubai will be hot and humid in the day as the temperatures soar during the day in Dubai. At night, it cools down a tad and there is a hint of gentle breeze that blows in the stadium. The conditions are much more pleasant than in the night than in the day. There is no chance of rain in Dubai and we are set for a full game of cricket.
Probable/Predicted XIs of both sides
Here, we will try and predict the playing XIs of both sides.
Bangladesh XI: Tanzid Hasan, Saif Hassan, Litton Das (c &wk), Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanzim Hasan Sakib.
Pakistan XI: Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Hussain Talat, Mohammad Nawaz, Salman Ali Agha (c), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Haris (wk), Abrar Ahmed, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf.
Key Players to watch out for in this contest
Saif Hassan: Saif Hassan has been in tremendous form at the top of the order especially in the Super 4 stage of the tournament. He scored two back-to-back half centuries against Sri Lanka and India and has done his job well in giving the team a head start. Bangladesh will hope the explosive opener will give the side a great start and lay the platform for the other batters to do their job as well.
Taskin Ahmed: Taskin Ahmed was rested against India yesterday as per workload management. Whenever, Taskin hasn’t played, Bangladesh looked ordinary and lost the game. We expect Taskin to come back in the side in this must-win clash. Taskin provides Bangladesh the breakthrough with the new ball and also bowls well in the death overs. He is the spearhead of this attack and must lead from the front to contain Pakistan.
Fakhar Zaman: Fakhar Zaman is back at the top of the order and Pakistan will look to him to give the team the quick start they need. He has got starts, but hasn’t converted that into something bigger. In this must-win clash with so much at stake, Pakistan will hope their senior campaigner strikes form and does well for his team because if he gets going, Bangladesh could be out of the game in a jiffy.
Shaheen Afridi: Shaheen Afridi roared back into form with ball in hand in the previous game against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi as he picked up early wickets and wickets in the first over. Whenever Afridi picks up wickets in the first over, he is a different beast. He picked out both the openers and added one more at the end. If Shaheen does well, Pakistan performs well. The new ball will be a threat for Bangladesh and if Shaheen gets things right, it’s going to be hard to stop him and he may single-handedly take Pakistan into the Asia Cup finals.
Key Stats/ Records that we have to watch out for in this clash
- Salman Agha needs 5 fours to complete 50 T20I fours.
- Mohammad Haris is 3 fours away from 50 boundaries in T20Is.
- Faheem Ashraf needs 1 wicket to reach 50 T20I wickets.
- Litton Das needs 2 fours to complete 250 boundaries in T20Is.
- Nurul Hasan requires 21 runs to reach 500 runs in T20Is.
- Taskin Ahmed is just 1 wicket away from 100 T20I wickets.
- Mohammad Saifuddin needs 3 wickets to complete 50 T20I wickets.
Possible/Predicted Outcome of the Match
It is a high pressure match and a must-win game between the two teams. Both teams have their sets of strengths and weaknesses. Bangladesh are playing on back-to-back nights and that might take a toll on them. Whoever handles the pressure and key moments better shall win. The chasing side generally has an advantage here. But taking all things into consideration, we feel Pakistan has an edge going into this clash and will start this contest as favourites. But things can change very quickly. Bangladesh will be no pushovers.
Let’s see how things unfold when the penultimate game of Super 4s of Asia Cup 2025 takes place later tonight at 8 PM IST from Dubai.
Also Read: Asia Cup 2025: India Advances To The Final After An Impressive 41-Run Win.