Under pressure after four consecutive wins, Pakistan rang in a few changes and it aided them in ending their losing run. Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat, but put up a very disappointing effort. Shaheen Afridi (3/23) struck in the first over, trapping Tanzid Hasan (0) leg before. Najmul Hossain Shanto’s (4) horror run with the bat continued as he flicked Afridi to short mid-wicket.
Haris Rauf (2/36) bowled a brute to have Mushfiqur Rahim (5) caught behind as Bangladesh slipped to 23/3. Litton Das (45 off 64) and Mahmudullah (56 off 70) added 79 for the fourth wicket to give resurrect the innings to some extent. Against the run of play, Das threw his wicket away. He clipped Iftikhar Ahmed to midwicket, giving the simplest of catches.
Mahmudullah then got a near-unplayable delivery from Afridi as a ball from round the wicket came in with the angle and straightened to beat the set batter’s flick. Towhid Hridoy (7) was the next to go, caught at slip off Usama Mir. Skipper Shakib Al Hasan hung around for his 43 off 64 balls, but never looked in control. Eventually, he perished to a quick short ball from Rauf.
Mohammad Wasim Jr (3/31) bowled Mehidy Hasan Miraz (25), Taskin Ahmed (6) and Mustafizur Rahman (3) to end Bangladesh’s innings for 204 in 45.1 overs.
Chasing a small target, Pakistan got off to a brilliant start as openers Abdullah Shafique (68 off 69) and Fakhar Zaman (81 off 74) added 128 in 21.1 overs. The decision to replace Imam-ul-Haq with Fakhar paid huge dividends as the batter played a dominating knock to put Pakistan in control.
Fakhar struck three fours and seven sixes, while Shafique hit nine fours and two sixes. The aggressive partnership was broken when Shafique was trapped lbw by Mehidy Hasan Miraz (3/60). The Bangladesh off-spinner also dismissed Pakistan skipper Babar for 9 off 16 as the batter holed out on long-on. Fakhar then missed out on a hundred as he slog-swept Mehidy to wide mid-wicket.
Mohammad Rizwan (26*) and Iftikhar (17*) completed the formalities as Pakistan eased to victory in 32.3 overs to stay alive in the 2023 World Cup.
--By A Cricket Correspondent
