Bangladesh crash to defeat

Cricket365
November 29, 2011

Bangladesh's spinners put them in the hunt by restricting Pakistan to 135 but a horror batting performance saw the hosts crash to a 50-run defeat in Dhaka.

The match was well and truly dominated by the slow bowlers who claimed eleven of the sixteen wickets that fell which also included three run outs.

But in the end it was by virtue that their batting was not quite as poor as the Bangladeshis that Pakistan won. A sad indictment on the performance of both teams with the bat.

Having won the toss and decided to have a bat first up in their one-off T20 clash, Pakistan got off to a solid enough start, with openers Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Farhat progressing to 30 without loss before the latter was sent packing.

Having hammered consecutive boundaries off spinner Shakib Al Hasan, Farhat (16) was deceived by a quicker delivery that he looked to turn behind square, only to feather it to Mushfiqur Rahim behind the stumps.

While Farhat perished to some good bowling, Hafeez (25) was very much culpable for his dismissal. Having been dropped off a no-ball in the previous over, the right-hander was subdued by five dot balls in an Shakib over. Frustrated, Hafeez looked to aggressively sweep a tossed-up final delivery from the spinner, only to miss and have his off-stump disturbed.

Umar Akmal (20 off 14) delivered a typically lively knock, hitting a number of sweet boundaries before he perished coming down the track to leg-spinner Alok Kapali, the eighth bowler used by Mushfiqur. Spotting a short deliver, Umar came out of his crease, looking to smack the ball forward of square. He was beaten though, and the skipper whipped off the bails with plenty of time to spare.

Asad Shafiq (19) and Shoaib Malik (two) departed in consecutive overs after Umar's dismissal, Shafiq skying a heave across the line while Malik tamely provided Abdur Razzak with a return catch. The flurry of wickets saw the visitors drop from 87 for two to 98 for five.

Crucially, Shahid Afridi (eight) became Kapali's second scalp, holing out to long-off before he was able to inflict any damage.

With the tail exposed, Pakistan stuttered 135 for seven in their allotted overs, with Misbah-ul-Haq unable to make the most of the final overs with limited support.

Bangladesh would have felt the happier of the two teams heading into the break, but they never recovered from the loss of a few early wickets.

Ironically, it was a fast bowler who started the rot, with Umar Gul catching Naeem Islam (3) lbw in the second over.

Alok Kapali (0) lasted just three balls before he clipped the spin of Hafeez to Misbah at midwicket in the very next over.

Some sharp work from Hafeez at point saw Imrul Kayes (2) run out and as was the case previously, one wicket soon became two with Hafeez taking care of the key scalp of Shakib (7).

Giving himself room to cut, Shakib was beaten by a quicker one that rattled into off stump. And with that, the game was all but over.

The remainder of the match was indeed a bit of a procession, as the Bangladeshi batsmen struggled to adjust to both the situation and the slow wicket.

Only Nasir Hossain (35 off 38) showed any really fight but it was all far too little too late as Bangladesh ended on 85 for nine at the end of their twenty overs.