Suhrawadi Shuvo sets up Bangladesh win

Bangladesh 102 for 5 (F Hossain 33) beat Sri Lanka 101 all out (Chinthaka Jayasinghe 28, S Shuvo 4-6) by 5 wickets
Scorecard

	Suhrawadi Shuvo strangled the Sri Lankan middle order with a miserly spell of 4 for 6 © AFP Enlarge

Bangladesh beat a second-string Sri Lankan side by five wickets in the semi-final of the Asian Games cricket event to seal their place in Friday's final in Guangzhou. They will play Afghanistan - who stunned favourites Pakistan in the first semi-final - in the title match.

Sri Lanka, who had reached the semis after scraping to a two-wicket win over Nepal in the quarters, won the toss and batted. They started positively with the openers Nuwan Zoysa and Jeevantha Kulatunga scoring at more than a run a ball and, at 38 for 1, looked set for a competitive total. However, Kulatunga's dismissal at that point by Shahadat Hossain robbed them of momentum. Suhrawadi Shuvo strangled the Sri Lankan middle order with his left-arm spin, picking up 4 for 6. It was only some late hitting from Chinthaka Jayasinghe, who made 22 with one four and two sixes, that carried them past 100 before they were bowled out for 101.

The total was never going to be enough to challenge the Bangladesh batsmen. Though they lost opener Mithun Ali early, solid contributions from Mohammad Ashraful, Faisal Hossain and Naeem Islam set the base for their chase, Faisal top-scoring with 33. Bangladesh reached their target in just under 16 overs.

The Bangladesh women's team had earlier won the silver medal in the inaugural women's cricket tournament, where they were beaten by the Pakistan women's team in the final and with their men's team reaching the final, Bangladesh have a chance to add a gold medal to their tally. They have currently won just two medals, with a bronze in women's kabaddi, apart from the silver.