Mushfiqur Rahim scored his career's 30th half-century, while Mohammad Mithun made 60 to lift Bangladesh to a decent 239 all out against Pakistan in the final Super Four match of the Asia Cup here on Wednesday.
Chasing 240 to seal place in final against India, Pakistan struggle at 85 for three at 20 overs.
Opener Fakhar Zaman, who failed to perform in this entire tournament continues his poor form on Wednesday even and could only manage 1 run before getting caught by Rubel of Mehidy Hasan in the very first over of Pakistan's innings.
While No three Babar Azam, who has been the backbone of his side ways back to the pavilion after he was out leg before by Mustafizur Rahman. He also couldn't contribute and was sent packing for just one run.
After losing two top batsman for just three runs, Pak face another setback soon when skipper Sarfraz Ahmad, who started well by hitting two boundaries to reduce pressure was caught behind by Rahim gifting Mustafizur his second wicket of the innings.
At the time of Sarfraz's dismissal in fourth over, Pakistan was struggling at 18 for three.
However after that opener Imam ul Haq and Shoaib Malik batted sensibly avoiding risks.
At the end of 12th over, Imam was at 39 while Malik was batting at 30.
Earlier, Mushfiqur (99) fell one short of what could have been his seventh ODI century but by then he had rescued Bangladesh with a 144-run fourth wicket stand with Mithun after they were reduced to 12 for three inside five overs.
For Pakistan, comeback man Junaid Khan shone with the ball, registering impressive figures of four for 19 from his nine overs.
Opting to bat first in the virtual semifinal, Bangladesh were off to a horrendous start as they lost their first three wickets with the scoreboard reading just 12 in 4.2 overs.
Left-arm pacer Junaid did the early damage, removing openers Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar in his consecutive overs.
One-down Mominul Haque failed once again as he was cleaned up by young left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi (2/47) in the fourth over.
But Bangladesh's go to man in crisis situations, Mushfiqur once again came to his side's rescue and in Mithun's company first stabilised the rocking ship and in the process brought up the century stand in 176 deliveries.
In dire need of a partnership, the duo started cautiously and grew in confidence as the match progressed.
Both Mushfiqur and Mithun punished the bad deliveries that came their way.
But just when the partnership was looking dangerous, Pakistan got the vital breakthrough in the form of Mithun who was caught by Hasan Ali (2/60) off his own bowling in the 35th over.
Mithun's second fifty of his career came off 84 balls with the help of just four boundaries.
Imrul Kayes (9) looked shaky from the onset and didn't last long, falling LBW to leg-spinner Shadab Khan (1/52).
The diminutive Mushfiqur, however, went about his business with a calm head and looked set for a well-deserved century but luck was not on his side as he sneaked a good length delivery from Afridi to Sarfraz Ahmed just one short of the three-figure mark.
Mushfiqur scored his runs off 116 balls with the help of nine fours.
Towards the end Mahmudullah (25) and skipper Mashrafe Mortaza tried to use their long handle to maximum effect to take Bangladesh beyond the 250-run mark but they eventually fell 20 runs short of what could have been a winning score.
With experienced Shakib Al Hasan not in the playing eleven, it might turn out to be a tough task for Bangladesh to put the brakes in the middle-overs.