Adelaide: Pakistan held nerves to clinch a five-wicket win over Bangladesh in their final Super 12, Group 2 clash of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup at Adelaide, thus marching into the semifinal from their group.
Pakistan is currently at the top of the Group 2 table with six points and three wins in five matches and India is at the second with six points and three wins in four matches. India will be playing Zimbabwe at Melbourne on Sunday. Both of these teams have qualified for semifinal.
Chasing 128, Pakistan had a solid start. Knowing that the target was less than moderate, openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan did not take many risks, instead allowing themselves to get settled on the crease. They did not go for many boundaries.
At the end of powerplay in six overs, Pakistan was at 35/0, with Azam (9) and Rizwan (26) unbeaten at the crease.
At the end of 10 overs, Pakistan was at 56/0, with Azam (25) and Rizwan (31) at the crease. The duo had reached 50-run stand in 58 balls.
Spinner Nasum Ahmed gave Bangladesh a key breakthrough, sending back Azam for 25 off 33 balls after he was caught by Mustafizur at backward point while he was trying to unleash a slog sweep. Pakistan was 57/1 at that moment.
Medium-pacer Ebadot Hossain intervened to remove Rizwan for 32 off 32 balls, reducing Pakistan to 61/2 in 11.2 overs.
It was in hands of Mohammad Nawaz and Mohammad Haris to safeguard their wicket and also go big whenever needed for their team’s cause.
Haris started playing some aggressive shots and revived Pakistan’s chase. The 31-run stand between the duo was broken by a brilliant run-out by Litton Das which sent back Nawaz for four off 11 balls. Pakistan was 92/3 in 14.4 overs.
At the end of 15 overs, Pakistan was at 94/3, with Shan Masood (1) and Haris (22) at the crease. In the next over, they crossed the 100-run mark.
The 16th over gave away 16 runs, including a six from Haris. In the final four overs, Pakistan needed 18 runs.
Skipper Shakib al Hasan got his first wicket of the match, dismissing Haris for a well-made 31 off 18 balls after being caught by Nasum Ahmed. Pakistan needed seven in 19 balls.
Iftikhar Ahmed came to the crease, but was dismissed by Mustafizur Rahman for just one run, who got his first wicket of the match. Half of Pakistan’s batting was inside the pavilion for 126 runs in 18 overs.
Pakistan won the match by five wickets and marched into the semifinal along with rivals Team India from Group 2. They finished their innings at 128/5 in 18.1 overs, with Masood (24) and Shadab Khan (0) at the crease.
Nasum, Shakib, Mustafizur, Ebadot got a wicket each.
Earlier, Shaheen Afridi registered his best T20I bowling figures helping Pakistan restrict Bangladesh to 127/8 at the Adelaide Oval in an important Super-12 clash on Sunday.
Bangladesh struggled against a superior Pakistan bowling attack with batters failing to capitalize on their starts to end with a paltry score in the crucial match. Najmul Hossain Shanto top-scored with the bat for Bangladesh scoring a fifty.
Opting to bat, openers Litton Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto started cautiously with Das taking the aggressive route. The right-hander smashed a four and a huge six in his brief stay, before becoming Shaheen Afridi’s first wicket in the third over.
Bangladesh’s experienced batter Soumya Sarkar walked in to bat at number three and looked to take the attack to the bowlers, smashing a six on his second delivery to Mohammad Wasim Jr.
The Bangla tigers did not lose any more wickets in the first six overs and ended the powerplay with 40 runs for the loss of one wicket.
After spending considerable time on the wicket, Shanto started hitting boundaries along with Sarkar to take the team to 70/1 after the end of the first 10 overs.
Bangladesh looked set to post a daunting total against Pakistan but leg-spinner Shadab Khan struck twice in the 11th over to dismiss Sarkar 20(17) and Shakib Al Hasan 0(1) to bring his team into the game. Shanto played the role of a sheet anchor, stemming the flow of wickets, and notched up his second T20I fifty in the 13th over. He looked to cut loose in after reaching the milestone but was dismissed by Iftikhar Ahmed in the 14th over for 54(48).
The team then struggled to find boundaries and managed to reach 99/4 at the end of 15 overs.
Afif Hossain tried to put his foot on the accelerator and struck a boundary in the 16th over.
Pakistan’s ace pacer Afridi bowled a brilliant 17th over to land Bangladesh twin blows, dismissing Mosaddek Hossain and Nurul Hasan in the over, exposing the tail. The bowler then scalped another wicket in the 18th over to register his best bowling figures in T20Is.
The lower-middle-order batters hit three boundaries in the last two boundaries to help Bangladesh reach 126/8 in their 20 overs.
Brief Score: Bangladesh: 127/8 (Najmul Hossain Shanto 54, Afif Hossain 24*; Shaheen Afridi 4-22) vs Pakistan: 128/5 in 18.1 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 32, Mohammad Haris 31, Nasum Ahmed 1/14).
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