Bangladesh confirmed the ticket to the last four of the Asia Cup by showing the ultimate cricket skill in the life-death match. After defeating Afghanistan by 89 runs at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, the Tigers entered the next phase of the Asia Cup.
Bangladesh faced the challenge of not only defeating the Afghans in this match, but also beating them by a large margin. Bangladesh succeeded in that mission with the controlled bowling of Taskin-Shariful after Miraj-Shant's extraordinary batting display.
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and decided to bat first. Bangladesh got off to a flying start with the bat of opener Naeem Sheikh and Mehedi Hasan Miraj, who came in to open the innings for only the second time in his career. After losing two wickets between 4 balls in the 10th and 11th overs, they were under some pressure, but Bangladesh managed to overcome the shock with a pair of 194 runs from Miraj-Shanto for the third wicket.
Miraj (112) and Shanta (104) both hit their second ODI centuries to give Bangladesh the foundation for a big score. When they came back, two experienced cricketers Mushfiq (25 from 15 balls) and Shakib (32*from 18 ba;;s) gave the finishing touches. In a combined effort, the Tigers scored 334 for 5 in the allotted 50 overs.
Chasing 335 runs, the Afghans stumbled at the start. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was picked up by Shariful Islam in the second over. Taskin broke the 78-run partnership of Rahmat Shah and Ibrahim Zadran, who were becoming dangerous. In the 18th over of the innings, Rahmat (33) returned with his ball bowled. After that, Afghanistan's highest scorer Ibrahim was caught behind the wicket by Hasan Mahmud for a personal 75 runs.
After that, Afghan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (51) and Rashid Khan (24) tried to resist but it was not enough. The Afghan batting line-up finally collapsed in front of Bangladesh's pace attack.
For Bangladesh, pacer Taskin Ahmed took maximum 4 wickets, another pacer Shariful Islam got 3 wickets.