Pakistan 112 for 4 (Samad 30*, Nawaz 27*, Rishad 1-12) beat Bangladesh 111 for 7 (Hridoy 42, Moqim 3-26, Minhas 2-23) by six wickets

Abdul Samad blazed Bangladesh in a calculated attack that handed Pakistan a six-wicket win and a spot in the Asian Games gold medal match. Samad cracked an unbeaten 30 off 15 balls, with five fours and a six as they clinched the 13-over game, reduced due to a wet outfield, in Nisshin.

Samad and Hasan Nawaz, who made 27 off 22 balls, added 59 runs in an unbroken fifth wicket stand and finished the chase with nine balls to spare. It wasn't a straightforward march, though, as Pakistan's batters kept throwing away their wickets after good starts.

Bangladesh nick the powerplay

Mahedi Hasan had Pakistan captain Sahibzada Farhan hole out to long-on, for one, in the first over of the chase. Maaz Sadaqat looked fresh out of his CPL final century. He launched Nasum Ahmed for a straight six, followed it with a swept four. The left-arm spinner though had the last laugh, when Sadaqat fell in the second over.

Saim Ayub had a very similar pattern in his short stay. He cracked Mustafizur Rahman for two sixes in the fourth over, flicked over square leg and another clubbed through midwicket. Like Nasum, Mustafizur had the last laugh at the end of the over, when Ayub handed a simple catch to deep midwicket.

Samad cracks open the game

Rishad removed the dangerous Usman Khan, caught at short third upon trying to reverse sweep the legspinner, in the seventh over. Nawaz, thus far struggling to get the ball off the square, hammered Nasum for two sixes at the end of the eighth over to help Pakistan's cause.

Samad took over from that point. First, he took Mustafizur to the cleaners, with a slog sweep over long-on for his first six, followed by fours through point, midwicket and fine leg, apart from an inside-edged boundary. Samad got them home, with his fifth boundary - smashed down the ground - in the 12th over.

Saim's wonder overs

Bangladesh's openers Saif Hassan and Tanzid Hasan struck a six each in the first nine balls, but Ayub dominated the bowling powerplay. His mix of front and back of the hand deliveries tied down Saif and Litton Das, who fell to a reverse sweep. Saim enjoyed the wicket a lot, as he finished with just three runs from his first two overs.

It was the perfect support for Arafat Minhas, who got Tanzid caught in the covers. Minhas then had Parvez Hossain Emon caught in the square-leg boundary in the fourth over.

Hridoy rips into wayward Pakistan

Fresh from his record-breaking unbeaten 350 in a first-class game in South Africa, Hridoy got to work in the sixth over. He cracked Abrar Ahmed high over midwicket in a 16-run over. Hridoy dominated the fifth-wicket stand with Mosaddek Hossain, as the pair added an important 53 runs. Pakistan's wayward bowling - they conceded 19 extras which included 15 wides - helped Bangladesh back into the game too.

Hridoy launched into Sufyan Moqim for a four and a six in the ninth over. He then crashed Abrar for a four and a straight six in the 11th over. Moqim removed both Hridoy and Mosaddek in an erratic 12th over that saw three wides and two wickets, before Bangladesh scraped past the 110-run mark.