Shaheen, Imam give Pakistan big win over Bangladesh

Brief Score

Pakistan 315 for 9 (Imam 100, Babar 96, Mustafizur 5-75) beat Bangladesh 221 (Shakib 64, Shaheen Afridi 6-35) by 94 runs

Bangladesh ended their World Cup campaign with a disappointing 95-run loss against Pakistan at Lord’s on Friday.

As a result, both teams have been eliminated from the tournament with New Zealand being the last team to qualify for the semi finals along with Australia, India and England. 

It was a solid display from Pakistan, first with the bat, where they had Imam-ul-Haq scoring a century and Babar Azam also scoring 96, to give them a solid 300-plus total, followed up by some superb bowling from teenage left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi who took six wickets to wrap things up.

For Bangladesh, one of the positives would be Shakib Al Hasan’s fifty, which helped him reach 606 runs in this World Cup, becoming only the third player to score 600-plus runs in a World Cup after Sachin Tendulkar and Matthew Hayden.

Another positive would be the bowling of left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who took another five wicket haul, two in two games, and took his wickets tally to 20 for this World Cup, which is the highest number of wickets by any Bangladesh player in a World Cup. 

1st Innings

After winning the toss and batting first, Pakistan lost the wicket of Fakhar Zaman early for 13 with the score on 23, dismissed by Saifuddin. 

From there Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam formed a magnificent 157-run partnership as both batsmen scored fifties, before Babar was out for 96.

From there Mohammad Hafeez joined Imam and took the score to 246, as Imam reached his century. 

He was out right afterwards and that bought a mini collapse in the Pakistan innings with Mustafizur Rahman doing the damage in the late overs.

Hafeez went after scoring 27, and then Haris Sohail soon followed after scoring just six.

Imad Wasim and Wahab Riaz then formed a small partnership, where Imad scored the bulk of the runs, to take the innings close to 300 before Wahab dismissed. 

With Imad holding his end up, wickets fell at the other end as Shadab Khan and Mohammad Amir went cheaply and Imad too got dismissed in the end, after scoring 43.

Mustafizur was expensive, but ended up taking five wickets with figures of 10-0-75-5. 

2nd Innings

In reply, Bangladesh lost the wicket of Somya Sarkar (22) early and soon after, Tamim Iqbal (8) followed as he ended a disappointing campaign. 

The next partnership between Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim was always going to be an important one, but Mushfiqur was dismissed for just 16 off the bowling of Wahab Riaz and Bangladesh were in trouble.

Liton Das, who has shown glimpses of his talent then produced a solid 58-run partnership with Shakib, but with the asking rate rising, he was deceived by a slower ball from Shaheen and was gone for 32.

Shakib reached his fifty, but Shaheen soon removed him after he scored 64.

From there, Mahmudullah Riyad and Mosaddek Hossain Saikat tried to resurrect the run chase but with the required run rate reaching close to 12, Mosaddek fell prey to Shaheen who had his fourth wicket. 

Bangladesh then collapsed as Saifuddin went for a golden duck and Mahmuddah also followed with the score reading a meek 198/8.

Shaheen bowled a brilliant yorker to have Mahmudullah bowled for 29 in what was arguably the best ball of the day.

Mashrafe, playing his last World Cup match, played a few big shots and hit a few sixes but was eventually out for 15. 

Shaheen would then have another wicket, that of Mustafizur, to have Bangladesh all out for 221 runs. 

Points Table

The win takes Pakistan to 11 points, level with New Zealand, but on fifth spot because of a poorer net run rate.

Bangladesh on the other hand stay on seven points and on seventh spot, with Sri Lanka finishing sixth with eight points.

Key Stats

• Mustafizur Rahman, with 20 wickets, became the second highest wicket-taker among bowlers this World Cup. The list is led by Australia’s Mitchell Starc, who has 24 wickets so far.

• Shaheen Shah Afridi became the youngest ever bowler to record a five-wicket haul in the World Cup.

• Shakib Al Hasan is once again at the top of the run-scorers list with 606 runs and is the first player to cross the 600-run mark this World Cup.