Yasir Ali took 16 off Muqeem’s last over for bronze in 2023, and Bangladesh meet Pakistan again for a place in the final

The last time Bangladesh and Pakistan met at the Asian Games, the bronze medal came down to one over. Bangladesh needed 20 off it in Hangzhou in October 2023. Yasir Ali hit Sufiyan Muqeem for 16 off the first four balls, including two sixes, and Rakibul Hasan hit the last ball for four.

Both Yasir and Muqeem are in Japan, and the two sides meet again on Thursday, 1 October, this time for a place in the final.

Bangladesh confirmed the tie without playing. Their quarter-final against Malaysia at the Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin was called off on Tuesday two hours before the toss, and the players were told not to travel to the ground. Bangladesh went through on seeding. It was the fourth men’s quarter-final in two days to be abandoned without a ball bowled, so all four semi-finalists have got there on the rankings.

Two sides who have not played

That is the odd thing about Thursday’s game. Pakistan and Bangladesh were two of the four seeds given byes into the quarter-finals, and rain took both of those quarter-finals too. Neither team has played a match in Japan. The first cricket either of them plays at these Games will be a semi-final.

Organisers spent a year turning a baseball diamond into the cricket venue, and the Games’ sports director, Jarrad Shearer, did not hide how that felt. “A year of my life on this, and it rains,” he said. The forecast for Thursday and for the medal matches on Saturday, 3 October, is better.

The first semi-final starts at 9am local time, which is 5:30am in India. India play Sri Lanka in the second semi-final later the same day.

Bangladesh lose Shanto

Litton Das leads Bangladesh, and he will do it without Najmul Hossain Shanto. The batter has been ruled out of the tournament with a fever and an infection he had carried since arriving in Nagoya. The team physio said tests for influenza and Covid-19 came back negative, and Shanto was due to fly home to Dhaka on Tuesday.

The rest of the squad has plenty of international experience. Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed and Rishad Hossain give Litton a full T20 attack, and Tawhid Hridoy and Tanzid Hasan bat around him.

A Pakistan side without the big names

Pakistan have left most of their senior players at home. Salman Ali Agha, Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shadab Khan are not in the squad. Sahibzada Farhan is captain instead, and he was the leading run-scorer at the T20 World Cup earlier this year with 383 runs at 76.60. He has Saim Ayub, Usman Khan and Haider Ali with him in the batting, and Abrar Ahmed and Muqeem in the spin attack. Four players in the squad have not played a T20I.

On paper Pakistan have the stronger batting and Bangladesh the deeper bowling. After a week of waiting, though, I suspect the side that adjusts quickest to a wet Nisshin outfield will matter more than either list of names. Bangladesh won gold in 2010 and bronze in 2014 and 2023. Pakistan went home from Hangzhou without a medal, and Muqeem bowled the over that decided it.

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