KOLKATA : Oct 31 : Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 7 wickets Fakhar Zaman and Abdulla Shafiq gave the national team a brilliant start of 128 runs in the 31st match of the World Cup. Kept hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the cup alive. In the match played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, Bengal Tigers won the toss and elected to bat first against Shaheen. When Bangladesh started the innings, Shaheen got Tanzid Hasan to walk in the first over giving the team a major win and with this wicket he took his 100th catch in ODI cricket.
Bangladesh suffered their second loss soon and Shaheen ended Najamul Hasan Shanto’s innings to give the Pakistani team their second wicket. The score reached 23 when Haris Rauf was brought in to bowl, who was welcomed by the Bangladeshi batsmen with three fours, but in the same over, Haris ended the innings of the experienced Mushfiq. With three wickets falling for 23 runs, Mahmullah was promoted to the upper ranks to support Litan Das and the two played responsibly and put on a 79-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
This dangerous partnership came to an end when Latin Das scored 45 runs off Iftikhar Ahmed when Agha gave Salman an easy catch. Mahmudullah once again batted well and scored a half-century but Shaheen stopped his progress as soon as he came to the bowling and was bowled out for 56 runs. Pakistan soon got their sixth win when Towhid Hari was caught at slip on the very next ball after hitting Usama Mir for a six. After the fall of 6 wickets for 140 runs, Mehdi Hasan Miraz came to support captain Shakib and both of them made a partnership of 45 runs to take the score to 185.
At this stage, it seemed that the Bangladesh team would be able to put up a total of 250 runs on the scoreboard, but Haris Rauf ended the Bangladesh captain’s innings with 43 runs, giving the team a crucial victory. After that, Wasim Jr took the last three wickets in his next 7 balls to bundle the Bangladesh team to 204 runs. On behalf of Pakistan, Shaheen and Wasim took three wickets, while Haris Rauf took two wickets. By dismissing Bangladeshi Tanzid Hasan, Shaheen Shah Afridi has become the fastest bowler to take 100 wickets in the fewest matches.
Pakistan’s new opening pair of Fakhar Zaman and Abdullah Shafiq put up an excellent performance and left the Bangladeshi bowlers helpless and prevented them from taking wickets.
Both the players, especially Fakhar Zaman, went on the offensive and completed their respective half-centuries as well as putting up a century partnership. Bangladesh got their first breakthrough in the 22nd over when Abdullah was adjudged LBW after Mehdi Hasan Miraz failed to play the ball, scoring 68 with 9 fours and 2 sixes.
Captain Babar Azam became Mehdi’s second wicket trying to play an unnecessary shot. Fakhar Zaman continued his charge against the Bangladeshi bowlers but the 81-run opener was caught on the boundary trying to hit another six, his innings included 7 towering sixes and 3 fours. Pakistan achieved the target on the third ball of the 33rd over to win the match by 7 wickets and also keep alive their elusive hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup. Mahdi Hasan Miraz took all three wickets for Bangladesh. Fakhar Zaman was adjudged Man of the Match for his aggressive batting.
