Pakinstan Wins Over Bangaladesh in Tense Moment

Cape Town: Cape Town: There were some nervous moments for Pakistan but they managed to keep their Super 8 slate clean by beating Bangladesh by four wickets at the Newlands cricket ground here on Thursday. Pakistan had already qualified for the semi-final stage of the ICC World Twenty20 Championship.

Chasing a small target of 141 runs, Pakistan made a bit of a heavy weather of the chase, losing wickets at regular intervals but in the end, Imran Nazir and Kamran Akmal did the finishing job with one over to spare.

Pakistan tried out a new opening combination on Thursday, getting Shahid Afridi to open with Nazir. While Afridi was reasonably successful, smashing 39 off just 15 balls with five fours and two sixes, Nazir had to retire hurt after just three balls. Nazir did come back after the fall of the fifth wicket and was unbeaten on 27.

For Bangladesh left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak was the best bowler on the park, taking two wickets for 16 runs in his four overs. Left-arm spinner Shakib al Hasan was steady, bowling his four overs for just 17 runs.

Mahmudullah bowled well for Bangladesh as well, taking one for 28 in his four overs.

Mohammed Hafeez and skipper Shoaib Malik made 23 and 21 respectively while Salman Butt, batting at number three, made 20 off 27 balls.

Earlier, Bangladesh lasted 19.4 overs thanks to opener Zunaed Siddique. After being asked to go in first, Bangladesh were bowled out for 140 runs.

The target for Pakistan was quite small but but it was refreshing to see a mature response from Bangladesh.

Most of the Bangladesh batters tried to take only the boom-boom route but Siddique, who made 71 runs off just 49 balls with six fours and three huge sixes, adopted a refreshingly different approach.

One could clearly see that he was trying to achieve the balance between attack and defense, which is the key to success in this format of the game. He was willing to stay at the wicket and defy the bowlers, which made all the difference.
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