Asia Cup 2008

Pakistan thrash Bangladesh

The final semis match between Pakistan and Bangladesh was a walk in the park for Pakistan as expected by everyone. Although the match was of no consequence, Pakistan needed to win this one convincingly to save grace. Bangladesh on the other end, would have liked to play better but their inexperience showed their downfall.

Scorecard

The Bangladesh batsmen could never handle the Pakistani bowlers right from the start and fell like a deck of cards. Tamim Iqbal was their highest scorer at 26 while the rest of the team was unable to reach the 20s. There was no partnership, no confidence and Pakistan dominated them throughout. Abdur Rauf did the main damage by taking the three top batsmen - Iqbal, Nazimuddin and Ashraful while Iftikhar and Ajmal took 2 wickets each. Tanvir and Malik added 1 wicket each to their kitty. The Bangladesh side was all out for 115 runs in 38.2 overs. Of these 115 runs, 16 runs came in extras - Pakistan really need to work on their extras as this has costed them the match many times.

For Pakistan, they could have chased 115 runs even while sleeping. Salmat Butt and Naser Jamshed achieved the target in under 20 overs to take Pakistan home without losing any wickets. None of the bowlers from Bangladesh side we impressive and little could they do as they did not have a total to defend.

Abdur Rauf was ‘Man of the Match’ for destroying the Bangladesh top order.

Tags: abdur rauf, ajmal, ashraful, Asia Cup 2008, Bangladesh, iftikhar, malik, naser jamshed, pakistan, salman butt, score, shoaib malik, super four, tamim iqbal, tanvir