Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 94 runs after being knocked out of World Cup

LORDS (92 News) – Pakistan’s Cricket World Cup hopes ended but beat Bangladesh by 94 runs in their important clash on Friday at Lord’s. Although Mohammad Hafeez began Pakistan's bowling attack with a maiden over, Bangladesh reached 8-0 in the 2nd over at Lord’s. New Zealand joined Australia, India and England in the last four. Shakib Al Hasan's glorious run this tournament came to an end at 32.1 overs after he was edged and taken out off Shaheen Shah Afridi's ball. The all rounder has amassed seven consecutive half centuries. Today, he scored 66. At the end of 30 overs, the win predictor showed a 94 per cent chance at a win for Pakistan. The Tigers lost their first player in the 6th over when Soumya Sarkar (22 off 22 balls) was caught by Fakhar Zaman off Mohammad Amir. Tamim Iqbal (8 from 21) was the next to go, bowled out by Shaheen Shah Afridi in the 11th over. Wahab Riaz then struck for Pakistan in the 18th over, bowling out Mushfiqur Rahim at 16. Liton Das (32) followed courtesy Shaheen Shah Afridi's ball, caught out by Haris Sohail at cover. Afridi struck again to claim Shakib Al Hasan's wicket at the beginning of the 33rd over. Earlier, Sarfaraz Ahmed's side earlier hobbled to a score of 315 as they wrapped up their innings against Bangladesh. The huge score Pakistan required looked unlikely despite a 100-ball 100 from opener Imam-ul-Haq, who was out in rare fashion by hitting his own wicket two balls after reaching his maiden World Cup century. He is the youngest Pakistani ever to make a World Cup ton. Imamul Haq was out hit wicket on Mustafizur Rahman's ball. He did not leave the pitch without scoring his maiden World Cup century, however, becoming the youngest Pakistani ever to make a World Cup ton (off 99 balls). Babar Azam scored 96 at 96 balls and Fakhar Zaman just only secured 13 runs on 31 balls. This is Babar's fourth 50-plus score of the ongoing World Cup. The 24-year-old has now scored more runs than any other Pakistani at a single World Cup, overtaking Javed Miandad, who bagged 437 runs at the 1992 World Cup. Sarfaraz Ahmed's side lost their second wicket on the last ball of the 32nd over when Babar Azam (96 off 98 balls) was dismissed leg before wicket to Mohammad Saifuddin. Although he missed out on a second World Cup century, this was Babar's fourth 50-plus score of the ongoing tournament. The 24-year-old has now scored more runs than any other Pakistani at a single World Cup, overtaking Javed Miandad, who bagged 437 runs at the 1992 World Cup. Fakhar Zaman was the first man out, caught by Mehidy Hasan off Saifuddin for 13. Wahab Riaz (2) and Shadab Khan (1) within a ball of one another, while Skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed was retired hurt at 2 not out. Haris Sohail (6 off 6) was caught by Soumya Sarkar off Mustafizur Rahman in the 44th over. Pakistan lost their fourth player in the 43rd over when Mohammad Hafeez was caught by Shakib Al Hasan off Mehidy Hasan. Pakistan need to win by at least 316 runs to overtake New Zealand in fourth place. Earlier, Pakistan won the toss against Bangladesh and elected to bat first, a match that is going to decide whether Pakistan will reach semi-final. Sarfraz-eleven needs to reach at a total of 500 score and defeat Bengal tigers with a margin of 316 runs to reach semi-final. The match will begin at 2:30pm Pakistani time to decide the fate of Pakistani team for next round of the first four. Pakistan will play its last group match with fifth position and 11 points on the points table of the tournament. Skipper Srafraz has said the team would try its level best to run 500 scores which could be the highest total of 50-over match. “It is very difficult, 316 runs is a big margin. Only if you’re batting first, if you score 600 runs or 500 runs,” the skipper told reporters. “I don’t know what the study is behind this, but I can’t do anything… definitely, we’re interested in finishing on a high note. So we will try our best in tomorrow’s match.” Pakistan will also be playing for pride, having been beaten by their South Asian rivals in the last four meetings going back to 2015. “If you talk about the previous matches, yes, Pakistan lost four, but it is a World Cup match. Both teams look stronger, so hopefully we will do well as a team,” Sarfaraz added. Meanwhile, Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes said his team were desperate to seal another victory over the 1992 champions in what will be skipper Mashrafe Mortaza’s final World Cup game. “Bangladesh versus Pakistan at the beautiful Lord’s, there’s no such thing as a dead rubber. Both teams are desperate to beat each other. We certainly are,” he said. “I often use the word warrior, but he (Mortaza) goes to war for the team and people respect that, understand that, and they love him because of that. The players in the dressing room do love Mash. He has said it’s his last World Cup and it’ll be emotional for him,” he concluded.