Shahid Afridi Came Out Hitting And Helped Pakistan Pull Off Their Highest Chase In ODIs
Pakistan 329 for 7 (Shehzad 103, Alam 74, Afridi 59, Hafeez 52) beat
Bangladesh 326 for 3 (Anamul 100, Kayes 59, Mominul 51, Mushfiqur 51* ) by three wickets
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.
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