Having seen his team put up a brilliant performance against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2018 virtual semi-final, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza has expressed delight and satisfaction with a 37-run win which sealed the Tiger's place in the final against India on Friday, September 28. 

While Pakistan started off brilliantly with Junaid Khan picking up 3 quick wickets to see Bangladesh struggling at 12/3 but then, once again, the might of Mushfiqur Rahim began resurrecting the innings. 

Rahim(99), along with Mohammed Mithun(60), stretched together an eventually match-winning partnership of 144 and took Bangladesh to a respectable score of 239 in their 50 overs. 

In the run-chase, Pakistan lost two of their best - Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam - very early and it just all went downhill from there. The likes of Mehidy Hassan, Mustafizur Rahman and Mashrafe Mortaza inflicted immense pressure to which, barring Imam-Ul-Haq, who made an assured 83 off 105, the rest of the Pakistani batting line up simply crumbled. 

Bangladesh won the game by a substantial margin of 37 on the big night and sealed their place in the final, where they'll meet India on September 28. 

Speaking about the admirable comeback in the match, Mashrafe said, "We are proud of our fielding today. We haven't seen such quality in a long time. Hopefully we will continue our fielding like this. I was lucky I didn't drop that catch (Shoaib Malik catch). He was in such good form and if he didn't get out, he would have carried on," 

Mashrafe further praised the great partnership that Mushfiqur Rahim and Mohammed Mithun had and said, "Mushy batted so well and Mithun also batted well," before assessing the bowling unit's efforts by saying, "Normally I start with the ball, but today we changed a bit with our bowling plan today. Started with Fizz and Mehidy. The bowlers have done a good job. At the end, the bowlers are brilliant." 

He is pleased to have won but the leader of the side knows where and how much Bangladesh needs to improve if they are to give India a really tough fight in the final. 

Mashrafe signed off saying, "We still have to improve in our batting and bowling in some parts.We all know that India is a serious side and the number one side the world. We will be missing Shakib and Tamim but the boys have showed character and one match to go, and hopefully, the boys will play hard," 

(Inputs from India Today)