PAK v BAN highlights: Pakistan beat Bangladesh by seven wickets at Kolkata to stay alive in the hunt for a semi-final berth.
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Batting first at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Bangladesh were quickly reduced to 6-2 by Shaheen Shah Afridi. The first of Shaheen’s strikes took him to 100 wickets in his 51st ODI: no fast bowler has reached there quicker, neither has any Pakistani.
Bangladesh then became 23-3 before Litton Das (45) and Mahmudullah (56) added 79 for the fourth wicket. Shakib Al Hasan also made 43 and Mehidy Hasan Miraz 25, but Mohammad Wasim generated fast reverse swing to clean bowl the last three batters in seven balls.
From 102-3, and later, 185-6, Bangladesh folded for 204 in 45.1 overs. For Pakistan, Shaheen claimed 3-23, Wasim 3-31, and Haris Rauf 2-36.
With an eye on improving the net run rate, Fakhar Zaman, coming in for Imam-ul-Haq, went after the bowling right away. With Abdullah Shafique also playing his shots, the Pakistan openers added 128 in 127 balls.
Shafique went first, for a 69-ball 68 (nine fours, two sixes). Babar Azam did not last long, and Fakhar (81 in 74 balls, three fours, seven sixes) holed out to deep mid-wicket with the score on 169. All three wickets went to Mehidy (3-60). Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed then quickly finished things off with 105 balls to spare.
With six (consecutive) defeats in seven matches, Bangladesh became the first team to be eliminated from semi-final contention. Pakistan, meanwhile, jumped to fifth place and boosted their net run rate to -0.024. They are level on points and have a superior net run rate to Afghanistan’s -0.718, but the Afghans have a match in hand.
PAK v BAN: Watch highlights of the Pakistan-Bangladesh match here
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