Sensational Afridi seals final berth with Sri Lanka

Wednesday, 5 March 2014 00:58 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Pakistan beats Bangladesh in its highest ever ODI chase ESPNCricinfo: Ahmed Shehzad’s fifth ODI century set it up, but Pakistan needed special innings from Fawad Alam and Shahid Afridi, who blazed an 18-ball fifty, to pull off their highest chase in ODIs and book a place in the Asia Cup final, against Sri Lanka.

Afridi ransacked 59 off 25 balls, hitting seven sixes during a 69-run stand for the sixth wicket with Fawad Alam that took only 5.3 overs. They resurrected a flagging Pakistan chase, after Bangladesh had surpassed expectations to post 326 for 3, their best ODI score. The game was decided with only one ball to spare. Bangladesh’s bowling and fielding let them down - they were sloppy on the boundary and Mushfiqur Rahim dropped Afridi on 52 in the final moments - and they failed to defend 300-plus for the first time in four attempts. Pakistan’s chase was led by Shehzad, who made 103 off 123 balls, accelerating after a sedate start and adding 105 runs for the fourth wicket with Fawad at 6.70 per over. He fell in the 39th over, and after the curious promotion of Abdur Rehman as pinch-hitter failed, only Afridi could make or break the game. Pakistan needed 102 off 52 balls, and he smote the ball so hard and far during an assault that will not be forgotten by those at the Shere Bangla Stadium. Several faces in the crowd revealed anguish as Afridi bludgeoned the home side. Between overs 41.2 overs and 46.5, when he was finally run out, Afridi launched sixes over long on, extra cover, long off, midwicket and fine leg. Five of his seven sixes came in his first nine deliveries. His stand with Fawad came at 12.54 an over. He took the bowling and Mirpur by surprise. During the onslaught from Afridi and Fawad, Mahmudullah gave 16 in an over, Shakib 20, Shafiul 16 and Razzak 18 as the asking rate plummeted in the last ten overs. When Afridi was dismissed, struggling with cramp, Pakistan still needed 33 off 19 but Fawad stepped up, clouting Razzak twice over the midwicket boundary to kill the contest. The turnaround Afridi engineered had been so sudden because Pakistan had lost their way after a 97-run first wicket stand between Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez, as three wickets fell for eight runs.

Unlike their bowling that fell apart, however, Bangladesh’s batting had been impeccable. For the first time since the Fatullah chase against New Zealand in November last year, every batsman’s plans worked. Anamul’s century played the central role and he made sure Pakistan were denied early wickets. Despite his reputation as a shot-maker, his 132-ball knock was chanceless, and he played second fiddle during the early stages of his 150-run opening stand with Imrul Kayes, who rode his luck to score a half-century in his comeback game. Kayes was dropped on 0 in the first over and survived a close leg-before appeal in the seventh, but he still looked for boundaries. Anamul caught up with him, and the pair laid into Pakistan during two hitting sprees. Imrul struck Afridi for two sixes over midwicket while Anamul attacked Mohammad Talha, Pakistan’s best bowler from the match against India. In the 16th over, Anamul moved from 41 to 57 with three consecutive boundaries - a six, a four and another six - all with the pull shot. It ruined Misbah’s plans because Pakistan had already lost Abdur Rehman because he bowled three beamers before he had delivered a single legal delivery. It got worse when Saeed Ajmal and Afridi struggled too, and Umar Gul was poor in the slog overs. Anamul reached his hundred in the 39th over but got out soon after. He had laid the platform and then watched Mushfiqur Rahim and Mominul Haque reach fifties, and Shakib smash 44 off 16 balls after returning from a three-match ban. Bangladesh took 121 runs off the last ten overs but even that was not enough to survive a battering from Afridi. This loss will hurt Bangladesh as much as the one against Afghanistan did and they have only pride to play for in the final league game against Sri Lanka. Pakistan, on the other hand, were deserving finalists, having clinched last-over finished against both India and Bangladesh.

Post match comments

Pakistan Captain Misbah-ul-Haq: “He (Afridi) is really playing well and he’s cashing into his form which is really good for us. Everybody knows the kind of player he is when he is in full swing and nobody can stop him. That’s really encouraging, we’ve been playing well in chases and this will give us great confidence in the coming games and years also. We have been playing a lot of cricket here and when the ball starts going, you can’t stop it. We have a world class bowling attack and even they couldn’t stop it so we knew we can score 10 an over if needed. We have quite a few things in our mind. We don’t want to lose the game; 260 was also in our mind and we had to distribute our batsmen and that’s why we changed the line-up. Bangladesh Captain Mushfiqur Rahim: “We got a good start from the openers and we finished the batting well too. But when Afridi plays like that, he hit our best bowler, Shakib for three sixes in an over, there was very little we can do. They were hoping for a mis-hit and unfortunately he dropped one but thankfully he was out soon after. We bowled a few length balls at the wrong time but overall we played much better than the last few games and we can take a lot of positives from this game.” Man of the Match Shahid Afriidi: “I tried my level best to perform well. Misbah has great support and it’s my type of situation and I had the licence. I was confident that 10, 10.5 an over was possibly so I took a chance. I have to congratulate Bangladesh for the score they put up. We need to do better with the ball. (Who is your batting coach?) None, no one. Moin bhai supports me. I knew if I slog I will hit it because it was a very good pitch.” (Source: ESPNCricinfo)

Pakistan’s Rehman concedes eight without bowling a ball

REUTERS: Pakistani spinner Abdur Rehman had a spell to forget in his country’s Asia Cup match against Bangladesh on Tuesday, the left-armer sending down a hat-trick of illegal full tosses to finish with bizarre bowling figures of 0-0-8-0. Brought into the attack in the 11th over at Mirpur’s Shere Bangla National Stadium, the 34-year-old spinner’s first delivery to Imrul Kayes slipped out of his hand and sailed well above waist-height and wide outside the off-stump. His second attempt turned out to be a chest-height beamer, which Kayes pulled to deep midwicket, where a fielder took the catch but the batsman stayed at the crease after replays confirmed another no-ball. Under International Cricket Council (ICC) playing conditions, a bowler is taken out of the attack after sending down more than one full toss above the waist but South African umpire Johan Cloete let Rehman continue after a brief chat with Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq. Rehman came round the wicket still searching for his first legitimate delivery but even his third attempt proved to be a full toss at the body of Anamul Haq, who pulled it to the midwicket boundary for an additional four runs. Rehman was summarily taken out of the attack after conceding the highest amount of runs ever recorded without bowling a single ball, and was replaced by fellow left-arm spinner Fawad Alam.