Bangladesh thrashed United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 51 runs in the 3rd match of Asia Cup at Shere Bangla National Stadium in the capital`s Mirpur on Friday. The host scored 133 runs for 8 wickets in stipulated 20 overs while UAE managed to score 82 runs in chase by losing all wickets in 17.4 overs. Mashrafe, Sakib, Mustafiz and Mahmullah took two wickets each while Taskin and Al-Amin each bagged a wicket. Earlier, UAE captain Amjad Javed won the toss and decided to field first. Bangladesh lost their opener Soumya Sarkar in the sixth over against the run of play. Soumya started to get going, entertained the crowd with some glorious shots in his 21. He faced 14 balls and struck two fours and a six. With Mithun, Soumya gave Tigers a positive start, and the opening stand produced 46 runs at 8.6 per over. However, the rub of the green was not with the UAE cricketers so far. Tigers got the momentum they needed in the fifth over when UAE captain was taken apart for 17 runs. UAE got their second breakthrough in the tenth over when Sabbir smashed a ball tossed on middle and leg by Rohan Mustafa straight down the throat of deep mid-wicket. Sabbir fell for six, and UAE bowlers were operating with a spring in their steps. Mithun returned scoring 47 from 41 balls while Mushfiqur Rahim was caught behind for only four. He got a feather edge to the keeper when he should have put away the short and wide ball from Naveed. Shakib Al Hasan fell after scoring only 13 from 13 balls. His hand-eye coordination looked jaded as he missed a high full toss and lost his stump. Javed looked for the yorker but the full toss did the job nevertheless. Nurul Hasan looked to loft the ball down the ground but mistimed his shot. The fielder at long-on ran in and took a good, low catch to dismiss Hasan for a golden duck. UAE captain Javed stalled Tigers’ innings in the 18th over with two wickets in two balls. Mohammad Naveed picked his second scalp in the 19th over when he got the better of Tigers skipper Mashrafe Mortaza. Mortaza drilled a drive that carried all the way to long-off where Fahad Tariq didn’t make any mistake. Mashrafe fell for a three-ball duck. Taskin Ahmed finished the match as he returned as a prey of run out.
