Rakibul Hasan’s last boundary from last ball enabled former Asian Games gold medalist Bangladesh Men’s Cricket team to clinch a bronze medal in the ongoing Asian Games beating Pakistan by six wickets in a 3rd place deciding play-off match at the Zhejiang University of Technology Cricket ground in Hangzhou on Saturday.
In a crucial situation when four runs are needed in the last ball RakibulHasan came to bat and secured the Bangladesh victory hitting the most desired boundary in his first ball punishing Pakistani off spinner SufiyanMuqeem in the mid wicket.
Earlier, Bangladesh eliminated from the gold race losing to their giant neighbor India by nine wickets in the first semifinal of the 19th Asian Games Men’s Cricket last Friday.
This was the 2nd bronze medal for Bangladesh in the ongoing Asian Games after their Women’s Cricket team clinched the first bronze medal also beating Pakistan in a 3rd place deciding match.
Bangladesh men’s cricket team brought laurel for the country by winning the first Asian Games gold medal in the Guangzhou Asian Games 2010 and clinched the bronze medal at the Incheon Asian Games in 2014.
Bangladesh mens cricket team managed a semifinal berth in the ongoing Games Cricket with a dramatic two-run victory over Malaysia in a nail-biting 4th quarterfinal on Wednesday (Oct 4).
In the day’s rain-hit bronze deciding 3rd place deciding play-off match, Bangladesh needed 65 runs in five overs and reached their target in the last ball thriller.
Earlier, Pakistan batted first and scored 48 for 1 in 4.4 overs when rain stopped the match for the 2nd times and later Bangladesh target was fixed at 65 runs in five overs under DL method.
Pakistan made a good start scoring a 47-run stand between Khushdil Shah and MirzaBaig after rain delayed start match.
MirzaBaig contributed 32 in 18 while Khurshid Shah scored 20-ball 14 runs.
Left-arm spinner Rakibul Hassan took the lone Pakistani wicket of OmairYouduf (1) conceding 12 runs in his two over spell.
Replying to a tough target of 65 runs in five overs, Bangladesh reached their ultimate goal in the last ball thriller, despite requiring 20 runs in the last over and four runs in the last ball.
Bangladesh made a frustrating start losing top two wickets of ZakirHasan (0) and captain SaifHasan (0) for just one run in first three balls bowled by ArshadIqbal.
But AfifHossain’s 11-ball 20 and Yasir Ali’s 16-ball 38 brought Bangladesh back in the match.
Yasir Ali, who was looking good to guide Bangladesh towards victory, dismissed in the penultimate ball of the game made it a do-or-die final delivery for the incoming batter Rakibul.
Finally, ArshadIqbal grabbed three wickets for 14 runs in two overs.
