Who will answer for Shakib?

Sarfraz Ahmed, the Pakistan captain, took the blame for his team's poor show at the Asia Cup, but said that there's time to rebuild the team for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

A convincing eight-wicket win over Hong Kong in the tournament opener suggested Pakistan were going to be a force. But it was followed by an eight-wicket defeat to India, and then, following a last-over win over Afghanistan in the Super Fours, losses to India and Bangladesh. As a result, Pakistan crashed out of the tournament they have won twice in the past.

"Yes, our performance was very poor. Our batting wasn't good, and we dropped a lot of catches. Our bowling was also patchy, and that's the reason we are out of the tournament," accepted Ahmed, who had a poor run with the bat himself, scoring 68 runs in four innings.

"I still believe we have a lot of talented players in the team. Look at Fakhar Zaman. Though he didn't have a good tournament, we have to back him. Babar Azam too. Imam has, thankfully, done well, but there's also Shadab and Hasan. We have to back them and take them along with us. We have to look at our bench too. We have a pool of players, and by the time the World Cup comes, we'll have a good team," said Ahmed.

"The World Cup is quite some time away, we have other engagements before that. Australia are coming, and then there's New Zealand. So we have to review our performance and see where we are falling short.

"We are losing too many wickets early, and the middle order has had to deal with the new ball, which isn't easy, and hitting quickly in the end isn't easy on these pitches. We'll have to get together and fix these issues."

While Ahmed called the performance 'alarming', he added, "There's no need to press the panic button. Yes, we have made mistakes as a team, and as a captain, I know that I didn't do well. But no need to panic, we need to back the players, look at the positions and see if there are people outside the team who can come in."

India edged Bangladesh 1-0 in their Asian Games fixture at the Xiaoshan Sports Center Stadium in China yesterday, courtesy of an 85-minute penalty conversion by prolific striker Sunil Chhetri.

Bangladesh Olympic team will play their last match against group-toppers China, while India and Myanmar square off, but two defeats in succession has all but thrown the men in red and green out of the competition.

Javier Cabrera's team, though, still have a slim chance of qualifying for the round of 16 as four third-place teams from six groups can advance as well.

India, on the other hand, were lucky to leave the field with a desperate win -- their fourth against Bangladesh in Asiad -- after having suffered a heavy defeat against China.

It was Bangladesh, boosted by the presence of eight national players, who comparably created better chances. But like it happened against Myanmar, Bangladesh forwards squandered several good chances while Rahmat Mia's committed the grave error with a foul inside the box.

"It's true that we missed five to six chances against Myanmar... but against India it was less. Honestly If we could do it [convert chances], we could have won the game," Bangladesh coach said.

Tigresses face Hong Kong

Medal-aspirants Bangladesh's women's cricket team will begin their campaign today when they take on Hong Kong in a quarterfinals fixture at the Zhejiang University of Technology Pingfeng Cricket Field. The match will get underway at 12pm (Bangladesh time).

Bangladesh, who grabbed consecutive silver medals in 2010 and 2014, are eager to start on the right foot against Hong Kong.

The Tigresses "have been in good shape," as far as captain Nigar Sultana Joty is concerned. "We have prepared for one month in Sylhet for the Asian Games, played a few practice matches and also prepared ourselves here for two days. I think the team are focused on performing well," she said.

Meanwhile, both Pakistan and India moved into the semifinals after their quarterfinals matches were abandoned due to the rain.

Women booters up against mighty Japan

Bangladesh women's football team will make their Asian Games debut today, and that too against former world champions Japan at the Wenzhou Olympic Sports Center at 5:30 pm (Bangladesh time).

"We are playing the Asian Games for the first time and against a strong Japan. I want to have the blessing from the countrymen, so that we perform well against Japan," said captain Sabina Khatun.

Coach Saiful Bari Titu pointed out the gulf of difference between two sides and said the match will provide a learning platform for the reigning SAFF champions.

"I have instructed the girls to not think about the outcome of the match," he said.

Ace Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has not been able to grip the bat over the last two days, resulting in him missing out on the crucial Bangladesh-Pakistan encounter in Abu Dhabi, team manager Khaled Mahmud informed on Wednesday. 

Shakib was ruled out of the virtual Asia Cup semifinal with a flare-up of a left littl finger injury he has been carrying since the final of the tri-series at home against Sri Lanka in January 2018. He had gone for a scan on Monday, the day following the Bangladesh-s three-run win over Afghanistan, which the team management said was routine. However, while not revealing the contents of the scan, team manager Khaled Mahmud had said that Shakib was a 50-50 chance of playing the Pakistan game. 

"He actually can't grip the bat," Mahmud said after the toss. "The report was not good. There has been inflammation of the finger [since he last played]  and the pain has also increased. 

His participation in the ongoing Asia Cup was in doubt until it was decided that he would possibly go for a surgery before the home series against Zimbabwe next month. He had said in the lead-up to the tournament that while there was not much problem bowling his left-arm spin, he was finding it difficult to bat. 

His scores in the four matches of the Asia Cup -- 0, 32, 17 and 0 -- reflect that uneasiness. Meanwhile, in the ODI series of the tour of West Indies in July-August, he had scored 97, 56 and 37 while also scoring 19, 60 and 24 in the T20Is.