An opener Fakhar Zaman he capped his return with a fifty attack after that Shaheen Shah Afridi“It was a blaze of glory as Pakistan knocked Bangladesh out of the World Cup with a seven-wicket win to keep their slim semi-final hopes alive here on Tuesday.
Shaheen led their three-link pace attack with impressive figures of 9-1-23-3 as Pakistan bowled out Bangladesh for a paltry 204 in 45.1 overs.
Fakhar, who missed five of six matches due to a knee injury, hit seven sixes and three fours in his 74-ball 81. Abdullah Shafique hit a quick 68 off 69 balls (9×4, 2×6) as the new-look opening pair. laid the foundation for a large 128-run alliance.
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Just when it looked like it was a one-way traffic for Pakistan, spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz (3/60) took both the openers but without any pressure on the scoreboard Pakistan set the paltry 205-run target in 32.3 overs.
It was Bangladesh’s sixth loss on the trot as the Shakib Al Hasan-led side became the first team to be officially eliminated from the 10-team global showpiece with two games in hand.
They will play Sri Lanka and Australia in their last two matches.
Returning to winning ways after four defeats, Pakistan kept their faint semi-final hopes alive with three wins from seven matches. They will face New Zealand before finishing their series campaign against England.
Pakistan’s new left-arm opening duo started cautiously, conceding two maidens to Bangladesh new-ball bowlers Shoriful Islam and Taskin Ahmed in the first three overs.
But that was it, as soon the Pakistani duo started milking the attack and raced to 52 without any loss inside the powerplay.
The pair switched gears early as Zaman smoked Taskin Ahmed over square leg for a 99-metre six. There was no stopping them and Shaifque took on Mustafizur Rahman for three consecutive boundaries.
Zaman brought up his 16th ODI century in 51 balls when he went up to Bangla pacer Taskin for a huge six down the ground. In the previous round, Shafique took 51 balls to reach his third half-century.
Zaman, however, missed out on a well-deserved century, chasing mid-wicket to give Mehidy the third wicket.
Skipper Babar Azam, however, continued to disappoint getting out for 9 (16b) when he wasted time on a shot from Miraz.
But Mohammad Rizwan (26 not out) and Iftikhar Ahmed (17 not out) completed the rout with 107 balls to spare.
Earlier, Shaheen toppled Bangladesh’s top order and became the fastest Pakistani to reach 100 ODI wickets. Then Mohammad Wasim Jr. cleaned up. the tail returning with figures of 8.1-1-31-3 as Bangladesh failed to sniff out the distance which it had repeatedly lasted in 45.1 overs.
Shaheen may have lost his pace a bit after recovering from a knee injury, but he managed to bowl with clever variations and got some swing on a flat Eden wicket.
The 23-year-old swung into action, catching Tanzid Hasan leg before wicket with extra bounce and late swing. That was his 100th wicket in ODIs. He became the fastest Pakistani to do so beating Saqlain Mushtaq by a few innings.
A superb low diving catch by Usama Mir at short leg in front made it two in two for Shaheen.
It would have been worse for Bangladesh but Mahmudullah made 56 off 70 balls (6×4, 1×6) in a 79-run partnership with Litton Das (45; 64b).
From 6/2 in 2.4 overs, Bangladesh looked to capitalize again when Haris Rauf dismissed Mushfiqur Rahim to reduce them to 23/3 before Mahmudullah came to his team’s rescue.
The intention was clear from Bangladesh’s side as they promoted Mahmudullah to No. 5.
After removing Shaheen from the attack, Pakistan also failed to build pressure from both ends, giving enough opportunities to Litton and Mahmudullah to make a quick recovery.
The likes of Wasim Jr and Mir, who impressed with their tidy show against South Africa, provided plenty of freebies and the Bangladeshi duo were happy to push the gaps.
They welcomed Wasim Jr with a couple of boundaries and Mir was also hit for four in his first match.
Bangladesh were in no trouble before spinner Iftikhar Ahmed (1/44) provided the crucial over to dismiss Litton.
Shaheen remembered and bowled around the wicket, he produced a gem of a delivery to end Mahmudullah’s stay in the middle.
Skipper Shakib Al Hasan then tried to create a partnership but ended the start and it was Haris Raul’s short ball that did it (2/36).
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