Pakistan won a thrilling Super 4 match 5 of the Asia Cup 2025 against Bangladesh by 11 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Pakistan batted first and only mustered 135/8. There were a couple of notable contributions from Mohammad Haris (31 off 23), Mohammad Nawaz (25 off 15) and Shaheen Afridi (19 off 13). Even with a low total, Pakistan's disciplined bowling and fielding made it impossible for Bangladesh to chase the target. Bangladesh began their innings as well as they could, but as Bangladesh faced and succumbed to loss after loss, the pressure from the Pakistan bowlers increased, putting Pakistan clearly ahead in the match. Below are the main reasons for Bangladesh defeat:

1. Top-order collapse

Bangladesh got off to a poor start in their innings as they lost key top-order wickets early on. By the seventh over, they were 38/3, putting pressure on the middle order, which is now a weakness. The early top-order losses had forced the batters to risk shots while trying to stabilize the innings.

2. Disciplined Pakistan bowling

Pakistan’s bowlers, led primarily by Shaheen Afridi (3/17) and Haris Rauf (3/33), struck early and often. Spin bowlers Saim Ayub (2/16), Mohammad Nawaz (1/14) and Abrar Ahmed bowled tightly, limiting how freely Bangladesh could score. The sum of these efforts made it difficult for Bangladesh to rotate the strike or increase their run rate.

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3. Lack of partnerships and inability to accelerate

While middle and lower-order batters, such as Shamim Hossain (30 off 25) and Rishad Hossain (16 off 11), resisted early on, Bangladesh was never able to build significant partnerships. They were not able to apply a high scoring rate at crucial times, which forced the lower order to be nearly flawless in the closing overs.