Pakistan today crashed out of the final of the Asia Cup cricket tournament after losing by five wickets to hosts Bangladesh here and skipper Shahid Afridi conceded that his side committed “too many mistakes” which cost them dearly.
Afridi congratulated arch-rivals India and Bangladesh for setting up a date in the summit clash of the continental Twenty20 tournament.
“I want to congratulate India and Bangladesh for qualifying for the final. We made too many mistakes. It wasn’t a good total, but the bowlers did superbly,” Afridi said at the post-match presentation.
Afridi said Pakistan will have to come up with a “special” performance in the upcoming ICC World Twenty20.
“We have to do something very special (at the World T20) because ours is a tough group. We’ve given youngsters plenty of opportunities, what else can you do?”
The Pakistan skipper said they want to end the tournament on ahigh note with a win over Sri Lanka in the inconsequential round-robin match.
“Sri Lanka is an important game, a win there will be good for our morale,” Afridi said.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza termed the win a big achievement for his side.
“It’s a big won for us, this was like a semi-final. I told the boys to just grab it, because we knew there would be plenty of such matches in the future,” he said.
Mortaza said the hosts felt pressure while chasing the modest total.
“There was a bit of pressure in the middle, but we coped well. Final will be another pressure game, the trick is to just back each other. It’s a pleasure for us to play at home, thanks to the crowd for coming out in supporting us. Hopefully they’ll continue to do that,” Mortaza said.
Left-handed opener Soumya Sarkar was adjudged man of the Match for his solid 48.
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