Asia Cup: Pakistan, Bangladesh to lock horns in virtual semifinal tomorrow

Pakistan will hope the team gets the job done against Bangladesh and regain confidence.

Smarting from back-to-back losses at the hands of arch-foes India, Pakistan will have their task cut out when they lock horns with a tricky Bangladesh in a virtual semifinal of the Asia Cup 2018 on Wednesday.

One of the two teams will be heading home after their final Super Four game at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium here and given the backlash they received after the reverses against India, former world and Asian champions Pakistan will be eager to raise their game.

While their batting has shown signs of improvement days after being bowled out for 160-odd runs, more needs to be done if they are to make the title clash, where India await.

The struggling batsmen would do well to take a cue from the seasoned Shoaib Malik, who has been one of the few impressive performers from the side in the continental tournament, which they have won two times.

However, Pakistan's biggest concern is the poor form of pace spearhead Mohammed Amir, who seems to have lost sting and is struggling to take wickets, which is his primary job, and which was reiterated by his skipper Sarfraz Ahmed on the eve of the group game against India.

Sarfraz's words did not have the desired effect as Amir and Co failed to deliver.

Pakistan will hope the team gets the job done against Bangladesh and regain confidence.

After their nine-wicket humiliation at the hands of India, coach Mickey Arthur said Pakistan have a huge task at hand.

"It's a semi-final now. We have to find a way to dig ourselves out of the hole we are in at the moment. We will come back from this. We are at our best in must-win matches. That's when we come to the party," he said.

"I believe in our players. I think they are a fantastic bunch of players," he added.

Bangladesh managed to scrape past a spirited Afghanistan in a last-over finish to keep their hopes alive, and having produced decent performances, save the loss against India, they will fancy their chances against Pakistan.

Teams (from):

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shan Masood, Sarfraz Ahmed(captain), Shoaib Malik, Haris Sohail, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan, Usman Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Asif Ali, Mohammad Amir.

Bangladesh: Masrafe Bin Mortaza (captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Mithun, Litton Kumar Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Ariful Haque, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nazmul Islam Apu, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Haider Rony.

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Asia Cup 2018: India aims to test middle-order against resolute Afghanistan

For Afghanistan, a win against the fancied Indian side will be a great end to the tournament.

Business Standard : The Indian cricket team will hope that its untested middle-order gets some game time ahead of the grand finale when it takes on an ever-improving Afghanistan in the final 'Super Four' encounter of the Asia Cup 2018 on Tuesday.

India have been on a roll after an unimpressive start against Hong Kong, with couple of one-sided victories over arch-rivals Pakistan and an equally facile one against Bangladesh.

With a spot in Friday's final sealed, skipper Rohit Sharma may want some of his untested middle-order batsmen to get quality time in the middle against someone of Rashid Khan's calibre.

Often in cricket, the 'Law of Averages' catches up with the best performing teams at a critical juncture.

Shikhar Dhawan (327) and skipper Rohit (269) have done the bulk of the scoring in the four matches so far with very little contribution being required from the other batsmen in the line-up.

The next highest scorer is Ambati Rayudu (116 runs) because he comes in at No 3.

The problem has been lack of batting time for the likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav and Dinesh Karthik so far.

Sample this: Rohit and Shikhar have so far faced 284 and 321 deliveries respectively. The next best Rayudu has played 162 balls.

However, Karthik (78 balls), Dhoni (40 balls) and Kedar (27 balls) can be found wanting if there is a top-order collapse on the big day.

Rohit had given Dhoni an opportunity to come in at No 4 against Bangladesh and the former captain scored 33 runs. But it was a pressure-free situation.

Dhoni's achilles heel of late has been to keep the scoreboard ticking in pressure situations that the middle-overs throw up.

If the likes of Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rahman can put pressure, it will be a good warm-up for the middle-order trio before the final match.

The Indian captain might fancy batting first in case he wins the toss, which in turn will give his team a chance to bat 50 overs instead of chasing another modest total.

The Indian bowlers have been splendid on the slow Dubai International Stadium track with all the bowlers enjoying an economy rate of less than five runs per over...Read More

Asia Cup 2018: Sri Lanka Vs Afghanistan Preview, Playing 11, Toss Prediction

Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have faced each other twice in the ODI's with Sri Lanka leading the scoreline 2-0.

In Match 3 of Asia Cup 2018, Angelo Mathews’ Sri Lanka will lock horns with Afghanistan led by Ashgar Afghan at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi today. After 137-run drubbing by Bangladesh in tournament opener, today’s match is a must win game for Sri Lanka as they are playing their last group B game while Afghanistan have one more game against Bangladesh. 

Despite starting their Asia Cup campaign on a losing note, Sri Lanka can take few positives from their previous game. The return of Lasith Malinga in the playing 11 after a gap of one year gives a much-needed boast to their bowling line-up as he took 4 wickets using his trade-mark Yorker, bouncers and slower deliveries. Both teams have faced each other twice in the ODI's with Sri Lanka leading the scoreline 2-0.

Sri Lanka Team news

In the absence of Danuskha Gunathilaka and Dinesh Chandimal, Lankan batting looked fragile. Upul Tharanga showed some positive intent at the top but failed to stick around and threw his wicket playing too many shots. 

Other Sri Lankan players failed to reach the 20 run mark and it was the contribution from Dilruwan Perera and Suranga Lakmal that helped Lankans reach the three-figure mark. Meanwhile, the Kusal Mendis experiment at the top didn't work out but they might take another chance with the opening combination or they can use Dickwella at the top of the order and play Kusal Mendis at the Number 3 or 4 position. The return of Lasith Malinga is a major boost but spinners have to chip-in with wickets in the middle overs and must restrict the run flow. The major concern for Lankans is their death bowling which looked brittle against Bangladesh. Sri Lanka have lost 30 of 40 matches since the start of 2017 and the trend might continue if they don't bring their A-game against Afghanistan.

Afghanistan team news

Afghanistan have had a impressive run in 2018 so far, beating Zimbabwe and Ireland, apart from winning the qualifiers to book a berth in the 2019 World Cup. Afghanistan can learn from Asia Cup about how to perform in pressure situations while battling against quality sides. Afghanistan has three frontline spinners Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Sharafuddin Ashraf alongside all-rounder Mohammad Nabi in their squad. The team ranked tenth in ICC ODI rankings will depend on Rashid Khan heavily. 

He is ranked number 2 in the ICC Bowlers Rankings while 17-year-old Mujeeb managed to create his own identity in the last 12 months. However, it's Afghanistan's batting that has let them down in recent times. Their last three defeats have all come when their batsmen have failed to reach 200. The onus will be on captain Asghar Afghan, Rahmat Shah, Mohammad Shahzad, Samiullah Shenwari to support their bowlers...Read More

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