Pak fix record against Bangladesh

DHAKA, JUNE 2: Even if this was not supposed to be a needle match, it was a full-house for the first time in this Asia Cup. Bangladesh pla...

DHAKA, JUNE 2: Even if this was not supposed to be a needle match, it was a full-house for the first time in this Asia Cup. Bangladesh playing Pakistan is always going to excite the emotions of the people here and after that historic win in the World Cup in England last year it was a grudge’ match — Pakistan needed to tell the world that their loss was a fluke’ and the Bangladeshis that it was an authentic’ win.

Much before the match was to end, the crowd had thinned down considerably. First, the home fans witnessed a major onslaught on their bowlers, the like of which they must have seldom seen. Saeed Anwar, Imran Nazir, Yousaf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi were in no mood to potter around and then throw their wickets. Strokes flowed from their bats and by the end of the 50 overs Pakistan had scored 320, the highest ever in Asia Cup.

But there was more embarrassment in store for the hosts. More records were set and the one which will be hard to beat was the highest margin of victory ever in One-Day Internationals, 233, beating by one run the earlier margin which Australia had achieved at Adelaide against Sri Lanka in 1985. Bangaladesh’s total of 87 was also their lowest ever.

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Not satisfied with subjecting the Bangladeshi fielders to a leather hunt, Pakistani bowlers got their act together and made the Bangladesh batsmen hop and even run away from the line of the ball by sheer pace. Mohammed Akram was quick and so was Wasim Akram. The batsmen had no clue to what had hit them. And once couple of wickets fell, the rest of the resistance did not exist.

SCOREBOARD:

PAKISTAN:

S. Anwar b N. Rehman 31 (6 fours, 32b)
I. Nazir run out 80 (7 fours, 3 sixes 76b)
Y. Youhana st Masud b I. Islam 80 (5 fours, 1 six, 104b)
I. Haq not out 75 (9 fours, 1 six, 61b)
S. Afridi not out 45 (6 fours, 1 six, 29 b)
Extras (7-b, 2-nb) 9
Total (for 3 wkts) 320 in 50 overs.
Fall of wickets: 1-83 (Anwar), 2-158 (Nazir), 3-236 (Youhana)
Bowling: M. Rehman 8-0-61-0, Shafiuddin 9-0-65-0, K. Mehmood 10-0-81-0, N. Rehman 10-0-41-1, I. Haq 10-0-50-1, I. Islam 3-0-22-0.

BANGALADESH:

J. Omar c Mehmood b Akram 6 (26b)
H. Bashar c Inzamam b Razaaq 23 (4 fours, 44b)
N. Rehman lbw Razaaq 7 (22b)
I. Islam run out 0 (3b)
A. Khan lbw Razaaq 2 (8b)
K. Masud lbw Mehmood 1 (6b)
K. Mehmood c S. Anwar b Mehmood 4 (4b)
M.Rehman lbw M. Akram 12 (1 four, 48b)

I. Haq c Akram b Khan 7 (1 four, 22b)
Shafiuddin not out 3 (29b)
Shariyar absent hurt<
Extras (lb-8, w-8, nb-6) 22
Total (in 34.2 overs) 87
Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Omar), 2-47 (Bashar), 3-48 (Islam), 4-50 (Rehman0, 5-51 (Masud), 6-55 (Khan), 7-56 (Mehmood), 8-74 (Haq)
Bowling: W. Akram 5-0-12-1, M. Akram 7.2-1-23-1, A. Mehmood 6-0-22-2, A. Razaaq 4-1-5-3, A. Khan 8-3-6-1, S. Afridi 4-2-11-0.

RESULT: PAKISTAN WON BY 233 RUNS

TOMORROW’S MATCH: INDIA V PAKISTAN

MAN OF THE MATCH: IMRAN NAZIR