Plan C (Chaos) does the trick for Pakistan, not for the first time

Shaheen Shah Afridi is apparently a low-value wicket. So low-value, in fact, that Pakistan didn't even use him with the bat against India last Sunday, which is objectively a high-value match. So low-value that even Bangladesh - impeccable in the field until then - appeared to momentarily forget it was still a wicket worth taking, and put down two fairly straightforward chances Afridi offered up. He had said on Tuesday after Pakistan's victory over Sri Lanka he was willing to "give his life" for Pakistan, but no one seemed to take him seriously.

But there hadn't been much value from the batters Pakistan do set store by either. Within the first ten balls of the innings, Sahibzada Farhan had sliced Taskin to the backward-point fielder, and Saim Ayub had got his fourth Asia Cup duck after a heady two-game streak of getting off the mark.

At this point, Hasan Ali had sprinted up to the middle - not, mercifully, to bat, though with Pakistan sticking and twisting with their order all tournament, you never could be too certain. He gave Fakhar Zaman a drink, and a message, as if Pakistan's Plan B specifically covered being 5 for 2 inside ten deliveries.

It's unclear what Hasan said, though it didn't seem to have helped Fakhar's game much. He would spent his brief, tortured stay at the crease trying to charge Bangladesh's quicks, his wild hacks connecting only with the desert air. By the time Rishad Hossain came to bowl after the powerplay, the 35-year-old was like the old family faithful that had fought to the very end, and had earned the right to give up. A weary slog off his 20th ball found long-off; his 100th T20I innings would also be his slowest in games where he had faced at least that many balls. The end of the powerplay had seen 24 dot balls, by that stage the highest for any side all tournament.

When the innings' halfway stage arrived, a bedraggled Pakistan had limped to 46 for 4, half of what they managed against India in their last game at this venue, and for the loss of three further wickets. Four days on from the perfect start to the one game Pakistan want to win most, the worst of Pakistan reared its head in the game they had viewed as a stepping stone to one last crack at beating India.

It is said in football that the most dangerous situation is a two-goal lead, even though every side wants to get themselves in that position. That is perhaps because momentum, or the perception of it, feels like it plays an outsized role in a sporting contest, like a tug of war contest where the exact position of each line doesn't matter so much as the direction of travel.

With Pakistan 51 for 5 after 11 overs, Bangladesh are ascendant; that wouldn't have changed even if Nurul Hasan's little goose-step to the left had been timed well enough to allow the ball to stick in his hand. But it doesn't. Three balls later, another primitive smear from Afridi flies up into the Ring of Fire lights. Mahedi Hasan puts it down again. Within a couple of overs, Afridi has connected with two balls that are sent sailing out of Dubai. That two-goal lead doesn't seem quite as secure anymore.

"We've won a lot of games in the last few months where we were far from owning the whole 40 overs," coach Mike Hesson said after the game. "We had to fight back. But what I can say about this team is they are incredibly proud to represent Pakistan. Every single one had belief we could fight our way out of it. That's what you want in a team representing your country. We're incredibly proud of the way we fought. We don't want to be 4 for 33 all the time, I assure you that. But the fact we can win games from that position shows the character in the group."

That belief may also have to do with Pakistan's addiction to these situations. Hesson would say after the game that Bangladesh had prevented Pakistan from playing the perfect match, but Pakistan's ultimate yearning has always been for chaotic glory, not structured success. High on their own supply of fateful triumphs past, Pakistan strut their way around the remainder of the innings in a manner that belies the position they are in, or the circuitous route they took to get here. This is merely the latest turn for Pakistan in a tournament that has taken on a sense of inevitable destiny for them.

That is a force much too powerful for Bangladesh to resist, who will wistfully look back at the last three quarters of the game, and how they allowed themselves to be background characters in Pakistan's madcap adventure. Hesson's tactic of eschewing specialist fast bowling to squeeze every last bit of batting into Pakistan's side always felt like a tactic in search of a situation, but as Pakistan closed out their innings, you imagined this was the kind of game he kept envisioning: nos. 6-9 score a combined 89 in 60 balls, the final nine overs producing 84, the second-highest in the Super Fours so far.

Bangladesh supporters outnumber Pakistan's by at least three to one, so the noise in the stands is a verdict of Bangladesh's position in the game. As the scorching heat of Dubai relents, more seats are gobbled up. But the voices seem to go even quieter.

The four sixes Bangladesh hit in the powerplay belie the leaden timidity they display for much of it. When the fielding restrictions are lifted, they have already outdone Pakistan's tournament-high dot-ball count; they have played 25. The required rate is soon climbing, and the moment has overtaken them. While Pakistan can grow into these situations, Bangladesh have historically shrunk from them. It is the perfect cocktail to turn them into fodder for Pakistan's juggernaut.

There is no sense, even in that passage of dominance, that Pakistan are putting on any kind of clinic. Even with victory virtually guaranteed, there are moments of comic Pakistan frenzy. Haris Rauf over-exerts himself in the 18th over, falling to his knees in the delivery stride. He will not get up for six minutes as he receives extended treatment. But when he does, he'll send the bails flying twice in the next three balls.

With Bangladesh down to their last pair, Pakistan let them get uncomfortably close, dropping a catch before conceding 21 in ten balls. It leaves the chase a mathematical possibility right down to the last two deliveries. But the universe, it seems, simply cannot hold back the contest this competition was probably created to deliver as frequently as possible.

An India vs Pakistan final may have been divinely ordained, but it needed Pakistan at its flawed, human best to take the tournament to that point. There may have been plenty lost in Pakistan cricket over the years, but as the small pocket of supporters who stayed back to dance to "Dil Dil Pakistan" on a muggy Dubai night reminded you, it is still anything but low-value.