Mahmudullah hit the full tossed delivery of Anwar Ali, the first ball of the 20th over, over the deep midwicket in style and with the ball exceeded the boundary rope for a four whole nation burst into joy as Bangladesh sailed into the final of the Micromax Asia Cup T20 2016 routing Pakistan by five wickets at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Sheik Hasina witnessed the great moment of the victory from the gallery
It was for the second time that Bangladesh sealed the final of the Asia Cup. Back in 2012, Bangladesh made the final and lost to Pakistan by two runs. Mahmudullah was on crease that time he could not make nine runs that needed in the final over. But in this match Mahmudullah hit the winning shot to beat Pakistan to make the final berth.
Bangladesh will face India in the final on March 6.
Earlier, Pakistan posted a moderate total of 129 runs for seven wickets after they opted to bat first. Chasing the target, Bangladesh sealed the heroic victory losing five wickets with five more balls to spare.
Tamim and Soumya opened the innings. Tamim started well hitting Amir for a six in the first over. But scoring seven runs Tamim walked off becoming and LBW victim of Irfan.
Sabbir Rahman and Soumya Sarkar then added 33 runs for the second wicket pair. Sabbir went back scoring 14 runs. Soumya then assisted another precious 37 runs with Mushfiq. Soumya was in rhythm on the day but he walked off with just two runs short to hit a fifty. His 48 runs anchoring innings was decorated with five fours and a six.
Soon after, Bangladesh lost two wickets of Mushfiq (12) and Shakib (8) adding 21 runs more on the board and the total turned to 104 for five in 17.2 overs.
Bangladesh needed 26 runs more in the last 16 balls. Despite having Mithun on the batting order, Mashrafe came to bat after losing Shakib. Mashrafe hit two fours in the 18th over bowled by Amir to make the equation more possible. Sami came to bowl the 19th over and Mashrafe and Mahmudullah amassed 15 runs with two No balls in that over to snatch the match away from Pakistan.
In the last over, Bangladesh needed only three runs and Mahmudullah hit the winning shot in the first ball. Mahmudullah was unbeaten with 22 runs while Mashrafe remained not out scoring 12 runs. Earlier, Taskin started brilliantly with the ball giving only one runs in the first over. In the second over Al-Amin came to bowl and struck in the very first ball. He hauled the wicket of Pakistan opener Khurram Manzoor (1).
Arafat Sunny, who was playing his first match in this tournament, took the ball in the fourth over. In the fifth ball of the over he bowled Sharjeel Khan (10). Then Mashrafe came to the act and made Mohammad Hafeez (2) an LBW victim.
Soon after Taskin grabbed the wicket of Umar Akmal (4) and Pakistan's total turned to 28 for four wickets in 8.2 over.
The pressure was on Pakistan. But Sarfaraz Khan and Shoaib Malik assisted 70 runs for the fifth wicket pair to lead their side.
Arafat Sunny broke the pair grabbing the wicket of Shoaib Malik (41). Following Malik, skipper Afridi walked off before opening his account.
Though Malik missed his fifty, Sarfaraz hit his one. Sarfaraz also added a fiery 27 runs with Anwar Ali.
Sarfaraz Khan was unbeaten with a 42-ball 58 runs hitting five fours and two sixes while Anwar Ali made 13 runs off nine balls before getting out off Al-Amin in the last ball of their innings. For Bangladesh, Al-Amin grabbed three wickets while Arafat sunny hauled two wickets.