Haris Rauf bowled a few hostile spells, whereas Imam-ul-Haq struck a silken 78 as Pakistan secured a cushty seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in a Tremendous 4 conflict of the Asia Cup, right here on Wednesday.
Rauf (6-0-19-4) proved to be too fast for the Bangladeshi batters, who had been additionally troubled relentlessly by Naseem Shah (5.4-0-34-3) after Shakib-Al-Hasan opted to bat.
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Bangladesh was finally bundled out for a paltry 193 in 38.4 overs, regardless of a 100-run stand and twin half-centuries by Shakib (53 off 57 balls) and former captain Mushfiqur Rahim (64 off 87 balls).
The goal was by no means going to pose an issue for the hosts, who knocked it off in simply 39.3 overs.
Despite the fact that Fakhar Zaman’s lean patch continued and Babar Azam performed on a supply from Taskin Ahmed that saved low, southpaw Imam was swish throughout his 84-ball knock.
In all, he hit 5 fours and 4 sixes whereas anchoring the innings within the firm of Mohammad Rizwan (63 not out off 79 balls). The duo added 85 runs for the third wicket and ensured that there have been no hiccups within the chase.
Two of his sixes — a pull-shot over mid-wicket off Mehidy Hasan Miraj and an inside-out loft over long-off towards Shakib bore testimony to Imam’s expertise.
Pakistan will now head to Colombo as soon as once more to face arch-rivals India in its second Tremendous 4 recreation on Sunday.
Earlier, Bangladesh suffered two batting collapses — first the the top-order was blown away within the Energy Play and the decrease middle-order fell like a pack of playing cards in the direction of the top of the innings. They had been diminished to 47 for 4 in the course of the first Powerplay and once more misplaced six wickets for 47 runs between overs 30 to 39.
Rauf terrorised the batters with sheer tempo whereas Naseem (3/34 in 5.4 overs) additionally added seam and swing with it.
The difficulty began within the second over as final match’s centurion Mehidy Hasan Miraj (0) flicked the primary supply he confronted off Naseem into the arms of mid-wicket.
Mohammed Naim (20) and Litton Das (16) hit a flurry of boundaries between them, taking the rating to 31 earlier than Shaheen Shah Afridi (1/42 in 7 overs) bought one to climb on the latter, who might solely fend it awkwardly permitting Mohammed Rizwan to finish the formality.
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After the preliminary spell of the opening bowlers, Rauf began hitting the laborious lengths. He had opener Naim cramped for room whereas making an attempt a pull-shot however all he might do was supply a easy return catch.
Towhid Hridoy (2) didn’t measure up as Rauf went barely wider off the crease and angled one it at 140 kmph plus velocity. Hridoy couldn’t get his bat down in time and was castled.
Shakib and Mushfiqur, the seasoned campaigners of many-a-battle for Bangladesh over the past decade-and-half, then steadied the ship however the top-order failure left them with an excessive amount of to do.
With no Mohammed Nawaz within the line-up, Pakistan had 4 pacers working and the duo needed to perform the rescue act.
As soon as Shakib holed out to the deep off Faheem Ashraf (1/27 in 7 overs), Bangladesh’s innings derailed and it ended up with a below-par rating.