Defending champions Bangladesh men's team smartly reached the semifinal of the 17th Asian Games Cricket crushing outsider Kuwait by a massive 203 runs in the 4th and last quarter-final at the Yeonhui Cricket Ground in Incheon, South Korea Wednesday, reports UNB.
The Bengal Tigers will play their formidable South Asian rival Sri Lanka in the 2nd semifinal today (Thursday) at 11:00 am (BST) while Hong Kong will meet Afghanistan in the first semifinal, also today (Thursday) at 6:30 am (BST).
Earlier, Sri Lanka reached the semifinal eliminating hosts South Korea by 117 runs in the 2nd quarterfinal while Hong Kong booked a seat for the semis beating Malaysia by seven wickets in the 1st quarterfinal Tuesday.
Sent in to bat first in the day's match, Bangladesh posted a comfortable 224 runs for 9 wickets in stipulated 20 overs, featuring 61 runs in five overs in the opening stand by Anamul Haque Bijoy and Tamim Iqbal.
Opener Anamul Haque hammered 38 runs off 18 balls with five fours and a six before being trapped lbw by Bastaki Mahmoud leaving team total 61 for 1 in 5 overs while another opener Tamim Iqbal contributed 22-ball 28 runs with three fours before he was caught by Mahmoud off a Fahad ball.
One-down Mohammad Mithun Ali scored team highest 59 runs off 25 balls with four fours and three sixes. Shakib Al Hasan, in his first match after the suspension, made 23 runs off 15 balls with five fours while Sabbir Rahman added 35 runs off 18 balls with a four and three sixes.
Besides, Nasir Hossain scored 9 runs, Rubel Hossain 5 and Mahmudullah 4 runs.
Bastaki Fahad grabbed three wickets for 48 runs while Alotaibi Mohammed, Alkandari Mohammad and Bastaki Mahmoud took two wickets each for 19, 42 and 45 runs respectively.
Chasing a target of 225 runs, Kuwait were cheaply dismissed for 21 runs in 13 overs against devastating spin attack by Bangladesh.
There was no double digit score for Kuwait with lower order Alotaibi Mohammed making the team highest seven runs facing eight balls and one down Basatki Fahad scoring six runs off 16 balls.
