Samad Settles It in a Hurry: Pakistan Wobble, Then Walk Into the Asian Games Final

A shortened game does strange things to a chase. Thirteen overs is not long enough to rebuild and not short enough to simply swing, and when Pakistan were 53 for 4 in the seventh over, needing 59 more from 41 balls, this semi-final was sitting right on the edge. Bangladesh had the spinners, they had the wickets, and they had a batting side on the other end that kept getting to 15 and getting out.

Then Abdul Samad decided the matter. Bangladesh 111 for 7 in 13 overs. Pakistan 112 for 4 in 11.3. Samad made 30 not out from 15 balls with five fours and a six, Hasan Nawaz made 27 not out from 22, and their unbroken stand of 59 took Pakistan home with nine balls to spare. Pakistan won by six wickets, and they will play for the gold medal on Saturday.

Pakistan chose to bowl, and the first twenty balls made the decision look inspired. Saif Hassan and Tanzid Hasan each hit a six early, but Arafat Minhas had Tanzid caught in the covers, Saim Ayub bowled Litton Das on the reverse sweep, and Minhas then had Parvez Hossain Emon caught at deep square leg. Bangladesh were 21 for 3 after 3.2 overs. Saim's two overs cost three runs. In a 13-over match, that is a remarkable thing to write down.

When Saif was leg-before to Sufyan Moqim for 19 it was 45 for 4, exactly halfway through the innings, and Bangladesh needed somebody to do something quickly. Towhid Hridoy did. He took 16 off an Abrar Ahmed over, hit Moqim for a four and a six, went after Abrar again, and finished with 42 from 25 balls with four sixes. He and Mosaddek Hossain added 53 for the fifth wicket, and Mosaddek's share of that was 11.

Pakistan helped. There were 19 extras in the innings, 15 of them wides, which in 13 overs is more than two free overs' worth of deliveries. Moqim's last over summed it up — three wides, and the wickets of both Hridoy and Mosaddek. Bangladesh went from 98 for 4 to 99 for 6 in the space of three legal balls, and 111 for 7 was perhaps 15 short of what Hridoy had made possible.

The chase began like a team in a hurry to get somewhere else. Sahibzada Farhan, the captain, holed out to long-on off Mahedi Hasan in the first over. Maaz Sadaqat hit Nasum Ahmed for six and four and was out in the same over for 15 from 7. Saim Ayub hit Mustafizur Rahman for two sixes and then found deep midwicket for 21 from 12. Usman Khan reverse-swept Rishad Hossain to short third. Fifty-three for four in 6.1 overs — plenty of runs, and every one of those batters out to a shot he chose.

Nawaz had been struggling to get the ball away, and it was his two sixes off Nasum at the end of the eighth over that changed the mood. After that it was Samad's game. He went after Mustafizur — a slog-swept six over long-on, then fours through point, midwicket and fine leg — and the equation melted. Mustafizur's two overs went for 41. Samad finished it with a boundary down the ground in the 12th over.

Bangladesh will look at Rishad's figures, 1 for 12 from 2.3 overs, and Mahedi's 1 for 17 from three, and wonder. Their two best bowlers on the day conceded 29 from 5.3 overs between them. The other 6 overs went for 81.

Thirty not out from 15 balls does not look like much on a scorecard until you remember where the game was when he walked in. Four down, 59 needed, and four batters before him had all tried to hit their way through and failed. Samad hit his way through as well — but he picked the bowler. Rishad was turning it and was left alone; Mustafizur's pace on a slow surface was the release, and Samad took it for everything it was worth.

A word, too, for Saim Ayub's bowling. Two overs for three runs and the wicket of Litton Das in the powerplay of a 13-over game is the sort of spell that does not win awards but decides totals. Without it, Hridoy's assault is launched from 60 for 2 rather than 45 for 4, and Pakistan are chasing something very different.

Our semi-finals preview had Pakistan as clear favourites and leaned towards an India v Pakistan final, and both calls came in. We also flagged the cold start — Pakistan had not bowled a ball at these Games after their quarter-final was abandoned — and said it made the semi-final less predictable than the names suggested. On that, we will take some credit: 15 wides and four soft dismissals in the top order looked very much like a side playing its first match of a tournament in a knockout.

What we got wrong was the premise behind it. We expected Pakistan's opponents to arrive match-sharp from a quarter-final win. Bangladesh's quarter-final was washed out too, so both sides were starting cold, and the shortened format did the rest.

Pakistan play India for the gold medal at Korogi Sports Park on Saturday, October 3, at 10:00 AM IST. India bowled Sri Lanka out for 45 in the second semi-final on a surface that turned and bounced unevenly, and Pakistan's top order will not get away with the shot selection they showed here against Bumrah, Axar and company. The wides are the other thing to fix; you cannot give India 15 of those.

Bangladesh meet Sri Lanka for bronze at 5:30 AM IST the same day. They have a batter in form in Hridoy and two spinners, Rishad and Mahedi, who looked well suited to this ground. A medal is a fair target.