Image Credit- AP
Pakistan ended their greatest World Cup losing streak
by defeating a miserable Bangladesh by seven wickets and maintaining their slim
hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals. They played their most dominant match
of the tournament.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, who is currently the fastest
player to 100 ODI wickets for quick bowlers and the top wicket-taker in this
World Cup, put on a brilliant display to dismiss Bangladesh for 204 runs,
setting up the victory. After being just brought back into the team, Fakhar
Zaman produced his greatest performance in months with a classic 74-ball 81
that put Pakistan ahead and boost their confidence and net run-rate.
Right from the start, with Afridi taking a wicket in
the first over, it felt like a vintage Pakistani effort. In his next over, he
took his second wicket by catching Najmul Hossain Shanto at square leg after
trapping Tanzid Hasan off the sixth ball to take the score to 100. After being
smacked for three boundaries in his opening over, Haris Rauf tied the score
with a counterattack that sent Mushfiqur Rahim hurtling in the other direction.
The strongest stretch of play for Bangladesh came
next, a 79-run partnership between Litton Das and Mahmudullah that turned the
tide of the innings and somewhat repaired the early losses. The game changed
when Litton was dismissed with the least amount of severity off a simple
delivery by Iftikhar Ahmed, a long hop that the batsman blew up to short
midwicket. For almost thirty seconds, Litton stood frozen in shock at the
crease, as though his body would not let him go.
Bangladesh recovered, but the game had already lost
steam before it even began. After taking his time to get going, Shakib Al Hasan
promptly cleaned Mahmudullah up with an unplayable reverse-swinging delivery
from close to the wicket once Afridi returned. Bangladesh’s lower-order hitters
found themselves at a further disadvantage when reverse swing came into play
heavily for the last 15 overs. Babar Azam then used his bowlers with unusual
discernment to create pressure as Pakistan started to put pressure on
Bangladesh.
Pakistan’s openers played themselves into a quiet
first three overs, but Fakhar in particular was extending his arms. He got
rolling after hitting three runs in eleven balls when he hammered Taskin for a
massive six over square leg. Later, he would add that he didn’t care how the
pitch played since he was confident in his ability to hit sixes anyplace.
Throughout his innings, he provided evidence for this claim by frequently
hitting sixes to break the dot deliveries. He and Abdullah Shafique discussed their
half-century partnership throughout the powerplay, and when Shafique joined the
run fest, the stand quickly approached three figures.
Mehidy contributed to lessening the humiliation by
getting three wickets, the only ones Pakistan lost, to stop the bleeding. In
the end, it wouldn’t matter much because Pakistan would win with more than 17
overs to spare thanks to a barrage of boundaries from Mohammad Rizwan and
Iftikhar. It lifted the cloud of doom that has been hanging over the team for
the past two weeks, and although Bangladesh is now officially eliminated, the
late Pakistan charge that has dogged so many ICC tournaments is beginning to
emerge.