Dubai, Sep 25 (IANS) Mahedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, and Nurul Hasan have come in for Bangladesh as stand-in captains. Jaker Ali won the toss and elected to bowl first against Pakistan in a decisive 2025 Super Fours clash of the Men’s Asia Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium here on Thursday.

The winner of this clash, to be played on a dry-looking pitch, will face India in the final on September 28 in Dubai. After winning the toss, Jaker said Mahedi, Taskin, and Nurul replace Saif Hassan, Nasum Ahmed, and Tanzid Hasan in the playing eleven.

This is the second straight game Bangladesh are playing in this competition after suffering a 41-run loss to India.

“Looks like a pretty dry wicket. We have been doing well while bowling first, so we are going with that strategy. As a bowling unit, we have been doing well. We have to bat really well in this match. We just want to play for the championship, that’s the mindset,” said Jaker.

Pakistan captain Salman Agha said his playing eleven is unchanged from their win over Sri Lanka. “We wanted to bat first, so it’s okay. Looks like a good pitch. Scoreboard pressure is the key. We have defended well after scoring 150-plus. Beating Sri Lanka was always great.”

“We want to play good cricket and execute our plans. It’s always important to play in any final. We want to focus on this game and want to win this game. We want to play good cricket,” he said.

Both Pakistan and Bangladesh need to win this match to seal a place in the final. Both have won a match and lost to India in the Super 4s stage. Both Bangladesh and Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka.

Playing XIs:

Bangladesh: Saif Hassan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain, Jaker Ali (c & wk), Nurul Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman

Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha (c), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed

–IANS

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