Bangladesh storm into final

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Bangladesh stormed into the final of the 16th Asian Games Men's Twenty20 Cricket shocking former World Cup champions Sri Lanka by five wickets with 28 balls in hand in the 2nd semifinal at the Guanggong International Cricket Stadium in Guangzhou, China Thursday, reports UNB.
Bangladesh will play the gold-deciding match today (Friday) against the surprise finalist Afghanistan who shocked top favorite Pakistan by 22 runs in the first semifinal Thursday morning.
In the Asian Games history, Bangladesh for the first time is poised for a gold medal in the Games' new sports Twenty20 Cricket after winning a record three medals in an Asiad - one silver in women's cricket, a bronze in women's kabaddi and either a gold or silver in men's cricket.
In the day's semis, Sri Lanka batted first after winning the toss and were dismissed cheaply for 101 runs in stipulated 20 overs against superb bowling by spinner Suhrawardy Shuvo and pacer Shahadat Hossain.
Among the Sri Lankan batsmen, only lower order CU Jayasingle (28), opener M Kulatunga (25), wicket-keeper J Perera (14) and opener T Zoysa (11) were able to reach the double figures.
Suhrawardy Shuvo grabbed four wickets conceding just six runs, Shahadat Hossain claimed three wickets for 29 runs while Naeem Islam and Nazmul Hossain took one wicket apiece.
In reply, Bangladesh faced an initial batting jolt losing opener Mohammad Mithun (1) with just eight runs on the board but confident batting by top and middle order batsmen guided the team towards victory.
Middle order Faisal Hossin Dickens hammered 33 runs off 24 balls with three fours and a six, Naeem Islam scored 25 runs off 34 balls with two fours, captain Mohammad Ashraful made 18 off 15 balls with one four and a six while Nazimuddin added 16 runs off 14 balls with three fours.
T Zoysa captured two wickets for 15 runs while M Bandara and N Sampath took one wicket each.