This is a must win match for Pakistan to ensure their place in Asia Cup 2014 final. Both Bangladesh and Pakistan are having troubles with their batting but Pakistan had been lucky enough to gain a bonus point against Afghanistan. But still India has to play a match against Afghanistan that is likely to give them a bonus point. If Pakistan loses this match, their position in the final will become doubtful. On the other hand, Bangladesh has lost both the matches they played so far and they want a victory to jump out of their miserable state. They had last a full series against Sri Lanka in recent past and the same is happening in Asia Cup. They need a full stop to this downward slippery patch to regain their lost confidence and looks for future prospects.
Toss: Bangladesh have won the toss and selected to bat first.
Man of The Match : Shahid Afridi
Good news for Bangladesh is that their star batsman Shakib Al Hasan is back after three matches suspension. Their reliance on this player is very huge and this is still to be seen if he can successfully bat against Pakistan’s formidable bowling attack. His presence will strengthen the middle order but the problems with the top order still needs be corrected. Top order collapse puts pressure on middle order that in turn passes the responsibility to the remaining batsmen and this is the basic flaw in Bangladesh team. Today is their biggest challenge because they are going to face the fiercest bowling attack in the world. My advice for them will be to bowl first and restrict Pakistan to a small total that will ease away pressure on their batting line. To achieve this goal, they must strengthen their bowling attack and include five specialist bowlers in the team.
Pakistan has confirmed that Talha is fit to play today’s match against Bangladesh and together with Umar Gul and Junaid Khan, they have an ideal pace attack, capable of shattering the best of teams in the world.
Teams:
Bangladesh Playing XI: Imrul Kayes, Anamul Haque†, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim*, Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Ziaur Rahman, Mahmudullah, Abdur Razzak, Shafiul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain
Pakistan Playing XI: Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Sohaib Maqsood, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Umar Akmal†, Fawad Alam, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Talha, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman
Pitch Report: No matter which pitch is used, the conditions will not change much. Pakistan’s quicks were able to extract bounce against India, but Bangladesh will hope for a slower wicket.
Complete Highlights by awaztoday101
For Complete Scorecard
Click Here
Bangladesh Innings: This was shining day for Bangladesh batting but an unlucky day for the whole team. The 150 runs opening partnership between Anamul Haque and Imrul Kayes laid the foundations where each player after them built his own storey. Anamul Haque completed his 100 runs off 132 balls while Imrul Kayes concentrated on keeping his end safe. He managed to get 59 off 75 balls. But still in 40 overs, score was just 204. Bnagladesh needed a boost at this stage and this is where other players played their crucial role. Mushfiqur scored 51 runs with the help of 8 fours and remained not out. Shakib Al Hasan’s unbeaten 44 runs innings was a gem. He got these runs off just 16 balls. He hit 6 fours and 2 sixes. In this way the whole team got their highest ever total of 326 runs, losing just 3 wickets. This was a challenge for Pakistan who had never successfully chased such a huge total in their cricket history.
Pakistan’s bowling and fielding was below average today and many people began to smell something fishy. Abdur Rehman bowled just 3 deliveries that were over waist height and was banned to bowl during the innings. This was a great setback for Pakistan. But still they had the bowlers like Umar Gul, Talha, Saeed Ajmal and Afridi. But Bangladesh batsmen kept sending every bowler’s deliveries out of boundaries. This was the massacre of the ball today from both sides while the bat was quite merciless.
Pakistan Innings: With such a daunting total before them, Pakistan began their innings by sending Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez and this pair done an excellent job. They played without panic and Pakistan’s first wicket fell at 97 in 21st over. This was a solid start but goal was still very far from their reach. Mohammad Hafeez lost his wicket after scoring 52 runs off 55 balls. Captain Misbah-ul-Haq played just 4 deliveries and was clean bold by Shakib Al Hasan. Sohaib Maqsood was unlucky to be given out scoring just 2 runs. In 23rd over, Pakistan were 105/3. Ahmed Shehzad was still at the crease and after a slow start he began to play good strokes. He was accompanied by Fawad Alam, who came to the international cricket after a period of three and half years. Their partnership was quite solid and they kept ticking the score through singles, doubles and occasional boundaries. In 39th over Shehzad was bold by Abdur Razzak but he had played an excellent innings of 103 runs off 123 balls. His innings included 12 fours and 1 six. Pakistan needed some exceptional innings at this stage as the required run rate was soaring quickly. We saw a strange decision by the captain who sent Abdur Rehman instead of Shahid Afridi to play some shots. He miserably failed to deliver and after playing 8 precious balls and scoring just 8 runs, got out off the bowling of Mahmudullah. This was 42nd over and Pakistan still needed more than 100 runs to win the match. And here comes Boom Boom Afridi. The first ball that he faced saw itself out of the ground announcing a huge six. This was the start of his furious innings of 59 runs off just 25 balls. His 59 runs included 2 fours and 7 sixes. He quickly filled the gap between the required runs and the remaining balls. After his heroic innings ended, Fawad Alam and Umar Akmal kept getting scores. Fawad lost his wicket in last over with just 2 balls remaining and 2 runs needed to win. Umar Akmal hit a boundaries and that was end of the game. Pakistan won this thriller and Shahid Afridi was declared player of the match.
Click The below Link to Download The Full Match Highlights
