Bangladesh cricketers celebrated the month of Independence with a place in the final of the Asia Cup as they defeated Pakistan by five wickets with five balls to spare in a pulsating game held tonight at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium at Mirpur.

India tomorrow will be playing their final group engagement against UAE.

India is already in the final and host Bangladesh will be their opponent scheduled final to be held on March 6 at the same venue. 

Victorious Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza in a post match briefing said:

"It's a big win for us, this was like a semi-final. Told the boys to just grab it, because we knew there would be plenty of such matches in the future. There was a bit of pressure in the middle, but we coped well. Final will be another pressure game, the trick is to just back each other. It's a pleasure for us to play at home, thanks to the crowd for coming out in supporting us. Hopefully they'll continue to do that." 

Southpaw opener Soumya Sarkar for his outstanding innings of 48 was named Man of the Match.

He told BSS, "This was a crunch match and I was not in form. So I thought that tonight it is high time to perform. Thanks God I could contribute at the right time."

He added that he was looking forward to do well again in the final against India on March 6.

Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi said in a post match session to media, "I want to congratulate India and Bangladesh for qualifying for the final. We made too many mistakes. It wasn't a good total, but the bowlers did their job superbly. We have to do something very special (at the World T20) because ours is a tough group. 

We've given youngsters plenty of opportunities, what else can you do? Sri Lanka is an important game, a win there will be good for our morale. One felt sorry for Mohammad Amir who nearly brought backed his team on brink of a victory but skipper Mashrafee and Mahmudullah Riyad were in mood to bow down as they barged their way into the Asia Cup final.

It was icing in a cake for Tigers that they not only won this match, but also eliminated two Asian giants (Sri Lanka, Pakistan) out of the Asia cup." 

Mahmudullah who hit the winning stroke said, "The final of the Asia Cup in 2012 was on my mind, this win will help us forget that. Soumya Sarkar played a superb knock at the top. The pressure was always there, you need to know when to calm down and when to play the big shot.

I wanted to give myself a chance to take it till the end, since I knew Amir and Sami were bowling the 18th and 19th over."

The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was present at the stadium watching the nerve wrecking match. She was in all smiles as she waves to the crowd from the VIP enclosure.

The moment Mahmudullah hit that, he knew it was all over as he slid across the turf as if he was having fun in the swimming pool.

Source: BSS.