PAK v BAN highlights: Pakistan beat Bangladesh by seven wickets at Kolkata to stay alive in the hunt for a semi-final berth.
Bangladesh’s first bat at Eden Gardens in Kolkata was quickly reduced to 6-2 by Shaheen Shah Afridi. Shaheen’s first knock was his 51st ODI as he reached 100 wickets. No other fast bowler has ever achieved this, and no Pakistani has ever achieved this.
Bangladesh were then 3 for 23 with Litton Das (45) and Mahmudullah (56) adding 79 for the fourth wicket. Shakib Al Hasan also hit 43 balls and Mehdi Hasan Miraz also hit 25 balls, but Mohammad Wasim made a quick reverse swing and struck out the last three batters cleanly with seven balls.
Bangladesh went from 102-3 to 185-6 and were bowled out for 204 in 45.1 overs. For Pakistan, Shaheen won with his 3-23, Wasim with his 3-31 and Haris Rauf with his 2-36.
In order to improve the net run rate, Fakhar Zaman, who replaced Imam Al Haq, immediately switched to bowling. Abdullah Shafiq also took shots and the Pakistan openers completed 128 of his 127 balls.
Shafiq opened the scoring with a 69-ball 68 (9 fours, 2 sixes). Babar Azam didn’t last long as Fakhar (81 off 74 balls, 3 fours, 7 sixes) took the score to midwicket from deep for 169. All three wickets went to Mehdi (3-60). Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed then quickly ended the match with 105 balls remaining.
Bangladesh became the first team to be eliminated in the semi-finals, losing six out of seven matches. Pakistan, on the other hand, moved up to fifth place with a net run rate of -0.024. Both countries are tied with a better net run rate than Afghanistan at -0.718, but Afghanistan still has a game to play.
PAK v BAN: Watch highlights of the Pakistan-Bangladesh match here
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