Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 7 wickets in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India on Tuesday.
Fakhar Zaman was included in the Playing XI after a while and slammed 81 runs off 74 balls, with the help of 7 sixes and 3 fours.He shared a 100-plus run partnership with Abdullah Shafuque, who also accumulated a fifty-plus score. Zaman looked comfortable at the crease and went for the shots from the start.
After being put to bowl first, Shaheen Shah Afridi got Pakistan off to a perfect start, sending Bangladesh opener Tanzid Hasan back to the pavilion in the very first over. With this dismissal, Afridi became the fastest bowler to pick 100 wickets in ODIs, shattering the previous record set by Australia fast-bowler Mitchell Starc. He came back in the third over to dismiss Najmul Shanto, who continued his dismal form in the tournament.
Harid Rauf joined the party in the powerplay, getting rid of the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim in the sixth over to leave Bangladesh reeling at 23 for 3. Opener Litton Das and former skipper Mahmudullah pulled the game back for the Bangla Tigers, stitching a carefully curated 79-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Litton fell short of his 13th ODI half-century, being dismissed by Iftikhar Ahmed after scoring 45 runs off 64 balls. Mahmudullah went on to complete his 28th ODI fifty before being dismissed by Afridi. Mahmudullah scored a 70-ball 56, to take his run-tally to 274 runs in five innings in this World Cup.
Towhid Hridoy continued to disappoint with the bat, falling after scoring seven runs as Bangladesh found themselves reeling at 140 for 6. Skipper Shakib Al Hasan formed a 45-run stand with Mehidy Hasan Miraz before being dismissed by Rauf after scoring 43 runs off 64 deliveries.
Then pacer Mohammad Wasim Junior took over and ran through Bangladesh’s tail, dismissing Miraz, Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman to bowl the Bangla Tigers out for 204 runs in 45.1 overs.
With this win, Pakistan leapfrogged Sri Lanka and Afghanistan to move up to fifth place in the World Cup 2023 points table. As for Bangladesh, they succumbed to their sixth defeat in the competition to drop down to the bottom of the points table.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
