Asia Cup 2023: Pakistan defeats Bangladesh by 7 wickets

Pakistan comprehensively crushed Bangladesh in the opening game of the Super Fours stage of the Asia Cup 2023, winning by 7 wickets. Once again displaying their prowess, Pakistan’s quick bowlers held Bangladesh to a meagre 193-run total. Here is a recap of the game.

Pakistani fast bowlers dominate the first powerplay

The very first ball Naseem Shah bowled in the match, with the brand-new ball in his hand, was hit in the second over of the innings. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Bangladesh’s previous match centurion, was removed by Naseem. Fakhar Zaman easily caught Miraz’s chipped, good-length delivery from Naseem at mid-wicket. Then, in his third over, Shaheen Afridi made a play, dismissing Litton Das. The Bangladeshi batsman was dismissed thanks to a flawless set-up from Shaheen to Litton, who first beat the outside edge with a slower ball before slamming the deck forcefully to add extra bounce. 

In his first two overs, Haris Rauf grabbed two wickets, including those of the openers Mohammad Naim and Towhid Hridoy. Rauf’s 50th ODI wicket came with Naim’s dismissal. He bowled a hard length that persuaded Naim to attempt the pull shot, which got the edge. It was a superb delivery. In his 27th ODI match, Rauf completed the catch to achieve the 50-wicket mark. Hridoy was outpaced by Rauf’s 145 kph delivery that crashed into the stumps because he was unable to counter it.

Shakib and Mushfiqur show the importance of experience

Bangladesh had 31 runs for the loss of two wickets when captain Shakib al Hasan arrived at the crease. At 47 runs for 4 wickets down, Mushfiqur Rahim, his seasoned partner, joined him. The pair took Pakistan’s average spin bowling while putting up a 100-run stand. After four early wickets went, Shakib and Mushfiqur both achieved half-centuries, which helped to steady the ship. Once more, Pakistan failed to take early wickets in the middle overs. 

Bangladesh suffers yet another collapse

After reaching a 100-run partnership with Mushfiqur, Shakib was out after playing a careless pull shot to a short delivery from Faheem Ashraf that fell into the hands of deep mid-wicket fielder Fakhar Zaman. The Bangladeshi batsmen quickly went from 147 for the loss of 5 wickets to 193 all out as a result of his wicket. In fact, Bangladesh lost their final four wickets in the span of just 8 balls for 3 runs. Haris and Naseem both hit a 4-fer and a 3-fer to get the Bangladeshi tail cleaned up.

Lights out at Lahore

At the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, one of the floodlights went out during the second innings, stopping play after the fifth over was finished. Before the break, Pakistan had amassed 15 runs without losing a wicket. The second innings started again with the floodlights on after a more than 15-minute delay. 

Fakhar Zaman was dismissed by Shoriful Islam on the first ball of the tenth over. After a flurry of outswingers from Shoriful, Zaman was expertly positioned to bowl an inswinger that caught the Pakistani opener in front of the stumps for an LBW. Fakhar’s bad run continued as he only managed to score 20, bringing his total for his past 8 ODI innings to 158 runs. 

Imam and Rizwan guide Pakistan to victory

Imam ul Haq added a half-century to his stellar performance in Lahore. In the previous four ODI innings, the opener had scored four times in the fifty-plus range. The second Pakistani hitter to be dismissed was Babar Azam, who was bowled by Taskin Ahmed with a delivery that stayed quite low. After Babar was out, the ‘Men in Green’ had no trouble winning thanks to an 85-run partnership between Mohammad Rizwan and Imam.  Imam’s vital 78-run innings came to an end when Mehidy Hasan Miraz bowled him with a slider. In the 7-wicket victory over Bangladesh, Rizwan reached his half-century for Pakistan.