Bangladesh bowl first against Pakistan in virtual semi-final
Nurul, Mahedi and Taskin replaced Tanzid, Saifuddin and Nasim for Bangladesh
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Sep-2025 • 3 hrs ago
Jaker Ali opted to bowl against Salman Agha's side • Asian Cricket Council
Toss Bangladesh opt to bowl vs Pakistan
Bangladesh's stand-in captain Jaker Ali won the toss and elected to bowl against Pakistan in what is a virtual semi-final in the Asia Cup. The winner of this game will face India in the final on Sunday.
Bangladesh's regular captain Litton Das missed a second game in two days with a side strain. Jaker took over the captaincy once again and will stay as the wicketkeeper.
Bangladesh also made three changes. Nurul Hasan, allrounder Mahedi Hasan and fast bowler Taskin Ahmed replaced Tanzid Hasan, seamer Mohammad Saifuddin and left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed.
As for Pakistan, they were unchanged from their win against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi earlier this week. Jaker's decision at the toss went down well with his counterpart Salman Agha, who said Pakistan wanted to bat first. The slower bowlers could thrive on what looked like a dry Dubai surface.
Bangladesh: 1 Saif Hassan, 2 Parvez Hossain Emon, 3 Towhid Hridoy, 4 Shamim Hossain, 5 Jaker Ali (capt), 6 Nurul Hasan, 7 Mahedi Hasan, 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Tanzim Hasan Sakib, 11 Mustafizur Rahman.
Pakistan: 1 Sahibzada Farhan, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Saim Ayub, 4 Salman Agha (capt), 5 Hussain Talat, 6 Mohammad Haris (wk), 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Faheem Ashraf, 9 Shaheen Afridi, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Abrar Ahmed.