Bangladesh and Sri Lanka meet for Asian Games bronze after heavy semi-final defeats

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will play for the Asian Games men's cricket bronze medal on Saturday after both were beaten heavily in their semi-finals

The third-place play-off at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin starts at 9am local time, a few hours before India and Pakistan meet for gold at the same ground.

Bangladesh lost to Pakistan by six wickets in a semi-final cut to 13 overs a side, unable to defend 111 for 7. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 45 and beaten by 124 runs by India.

For two sides whose week in Japan has been shaped more by weather than by cricket, a podium finish is the one thing left to salvage.

A medal that still counts

Bangladesh have left every Asian Games cricket tournament they have entered with a medal. They won gold in 2010 in Guangzhou, beating Afghanistan in the final, and took bronze in both 2014 and 2022.

Sri Lanka's record is shorter but includes the 2014 title, won by 68 runs against Afghanistan in Incheon. In 2010 they lost the third-place match to Pakistan and finished fourth.

Neither board sent a first-choice side to Japan. Sri Lanka's is explicitly a second-string squad, and Bangladesh's is built around Litton Das, who captains and keeps wicket.

Bangladesh could not defend 111

Rain reduced the first semi-final to 13 overs an innings, and Bangladesh were 45 for 4 before Towhid Hridoy rescued them with 42 from 25 balls, two fours and four sixes.

His fifth-wicket stand of 53 with Mosaddek Hossain, who made 11 from 16, carried Bangladesh to 111 for 7. Sufyan Moqim took 3-26 and Pakistan's 19 extras, 15 of them wides, inflated the total.

Pakistan replied with 112 for 4 in 11.3 overs. Mustafizur Rahman, Bangladesh's most experienced seamer, conceded 41 from his two overs.

Litton Das points to an unfamiliar pitch

Bangladesh's captain was blunt about how little his batters knew of the surface. "Once a 20-over game is played on a wicket, you get an idea about how it behaves. We had no idea because we hadn't watched any game here in the last few days and we didn't have the opportunity to practise on the wicket," Das said.

"So we played the first few overs without an idea. Gradually, the batters got an idea," he added, before crediting the recovery to his middle order: "Credit goes to Hridoy for bringing the team back from that position. The partnership between Mosaddek and Hridoy was very good."

On the defeat itself he was clear where it was lost. "I think if we could have bowled a little better in the middle overs, and conceded fewer sixes, we would have had a better chance," Das said.

Sri Lanka's record low

Sri Lanka's semi-final was shorter and worse. Chasing 170 after India made 169 for 7, they were dismissed for 45 in 9.5 overs, the lowest total in their T20I history and well short of the 77 they made against South Africa in 2024.

It is also the joint-lowest total by any Full Member in the format, matching the 45 West Indies were bowled out for in 2019. Nuwanidu Fernando's 15 was the only score in double figures.

Axar Patel took 3-8, Jasprit Bumrah 2-7 and Abhishek Sharma 2-2 as the innings folded inside ten overs.

Sahan Arachchige, captaining after three years away from the side, leads a squad that includes four uncapped players and brings Niroshan Dickwella back into a T20I set-up for the first time in five years. It arrived in Japan after a 3-0 T20I defeat in England.

Conditions should finally be clear

Rain has run through the tournament. All four quarter-finals were abandoned without a toss, sending India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh through as the higher-ranked sides without a ball being bowled.

Saturday looks different. The forecast for Nisshin is sunny, with temperatures around 20C at the start of play and little threat of rain.

The surface has been slow enough to make timing difficult through the middle overs, and both sides are expected to lean on their spinners.

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka begin the final day of the Asian Games cricket tournament with a bronze medal between them, and the India-Pakistan gold medal match to follow.

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