Bangladesh face Pakistan without Najmul Hossain Shanto in the Asian Games semi-final

Bangladesh will play Pakistan for a place in the Asian Games final without Najmul Hossain Shanto, who has flown home from Japan after tests found an infection

Litton Das's side meet Pakistan in the first semi-final at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin on Thursday, starting at 00:00 GMT. It will be the first knockout cricket either side has managed to play at these Games.

Both reached the last four without a toss being made. All four quarter-finals were abandoned to rain, and the higher-seeded team went through in each: Pakistan past Hong Kong on 28 September, Bangladesh past Malaysia a day later.

Shanto, Bangladesh's Test captain, was in the squad as a batter. He had carried a low-grade fever for four days after arriving in Nagoya, and returned to Dhaka on Tuesday.

Shanto flies home with an infection

Bangladesh's team physio, Bayjedul Islam Khan, said of Shanto: "He is understandably very weak and is not expected to recover in time to play any part in the Asian Games."

Testing in Nagoya returned evidence of infection. Shanto was negative for both influenza and COVID-19.

Bangladesh's bowling is the stronger half of the side, built around Mustafizur Rahman, the leg-spinner Rishad Hossain, Shoriful Islam and Hasan Mahmud.

His absence thins a batting order that already leans heavily on Litton Das, Tanzid Hasan and Tawhid Hridoy, with Parvez Hossain Emon and Mohammed Saif Hasan the other specialist options.

Four quarter-finals and no cricket

Nothing was played in the quarter-final round. Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal and Afghanistan all went out without a result, three of them having come through a preliminary group stage to get there.

Ten teams entered the competition, which began on 24 September. The six lowest seeds were drawn into two preliminary groups of three, and the four that came through met the top seeds in the quarter-finals. Nepal beat Afghanistan to qualify; Malaysia beat Hong Kong by eight wickets.

The Games' sports director, Jarrad Shearer, summed up the week bluntly: "Cricket, like baseball, you can't play it in the rain. A year of my life on this, and it rains."

The same tie-break applies on Thursday. If the semi-finals are washed out, the higher seeds advance, which would send Pakistan into the final rather than Bangladesh.

Bangladesh have beaten Pakistan here before

Bangladesh have the better Asian Games record of the two. They took gold in 2010, beating Afghanistan in the final, and added bronze in 2014.

Their most recent medal came at Hangzhou in 2023, where they beat Pakistan in the third-place play-off to take bronze. The same two teams now meet a round earlier.

India took the gold at Hangzhou on cricket's Asian Games debut for the men's game, in a final against Afghanistan that was itself abandoned to rain and awarded on ranking.

Farhan leads Pakistan for the first time

Sahibzada Farhan captains Pakistan for the first time, with Abdul Samad as his deputy. Farhan finished as the leading run-scorer at the 2026 T20 World Cup.

It is a heavily rotated 15. Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and Salman Ali Agha were all left out, and four of the players named have never held a T20I cap.

Saim Ayub, Haider Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Usman Khan and the leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed carry most of the international experience in the group.

A better forecast for the medal matches

The forecast for Thursday is brighter than the one that ruined the quarter-finals, and better again for the medal matches on 3 October.

The winner of this semi-final goes on to meet the winner of India against Sri Lanka, who play the second semi-final later on Thursday.

The gold-medal match and the bronze play-off are both scheduled for Korogi Sports Park on 3 October.

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