Tigers lose and knock Aussies out

Cricket365
March 30, 2014

Pakistan made light work of Bangladesh on Sunday, winning their World Twenty20 group encounter by 50 runs in Dhaka thanks to a century from Ahmed Shehzad and some experienced pace bowling from Umar Gul.

The result, with Bangladesh failing to reach the 191 required and making just 140 for seven, also saw Australia knocked out of the tournament as they needed the Tigers to win to stay within sem-final reach.

This also means the Pakistan's next match, against the West Indies, will essentially be a quarter final game, with the winner joining India as the two sides to advance to the final four.

Pakistan batted first and actually didn't do all that well, aside from Shehzad's ton. The opener was the only one of the top four to reach double, let alone triple, figures, as Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez all fell cheaply.

But Shehzad was the backbone of the knock, smacking his fifty off 30 balls and his century off 58, sending the ball directly over the ropes five times. He was assisted at the death by Shoaib Malik, who made 26, and then Shahid Afridi, whose 22 came off just nine balls.

The Tigers were pretty much done from the get-go, with Gul removing Tamim Iqbal and Shakib-al-Hasan, and Saeed Afridi also confounding the home batsmen. They were four down for 47 at one point.

Shakib top-scored with 38 off 32 balls, while at the end it was Mahmudullah and Mashrafe Mortaza in the middle, both on 17, when time ran out. Mortaza would want to forget the game though, as he gave up 63 runs in his four overs.

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Shamsur Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nasir Hossain, Mahmudullah, Ziaur Rahman, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Al-Amin Hossain

Pakistan: Kamran Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Zulfiqar Babar, Saeed Ajmal