Pakistan finally stopped being a pretender in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and turned up against Bangladesh as the competitive, if nor fearsome, side that rose to World No. 1 in the ICC ODI Rankings not long ago. They did all things right – from picking the best combination to bowling well and chasing with authority – to storm to a seven-wicket win at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
The two points gained for this clinical effort keep alive their chances of making it to the semifinals. With matches against New Zealand and England left to play in the league, Pakistan rose to fifth place on the table with a tally of six points. They have a glimmer of hope, but know that it will need more than their own wins but also results of other matches to go their way.
It is tempting to mark the return of the big-striking opener Fakhar Zaman (81, 74 balls, three fours, seven sixes) as the cornerstone of Pakistan’s march to victory with 17.3 overs to spare, However, that would take away focus from the fast-bowling trio, especially Shaheen Shah Afridi at the start and Mohammed Wasim at the end of the Bangladesh innings.
It must also be said that Pakistan did not took a gift horse in the mouth after Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh captain, offered the opposition pace bowlers first use of the track on winning the toss. Having failed miserably in a chase against the Netherlands here last week, Shakib wanted his batters to take responsibility, but it did not take long for that to be shown up as wishful thinking.
Afridi’s left-arm pace sent back Tanzid Hasan and Najmul Hasan Shanto in his first two overs and imposed a defensive mindset on the Bangladesh batters. Haris Rauf scalped Mushfiqur Rahim in his opening over. Even a 79-run stand between Litton Das (45) and Mahmudullah (56), and a patchy 43 from Shakib were not enough for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh would have hoped that Mahmudullah would kick on to make a big score but the crawl from 96 for three in 20 overs to 128 for four in 30 overs added to the pressure. With Iftikhar Ahmed’s off-spin tightening the screws from one end with a nagging line, Mahmudullah and Shakib’s patience were severely tested before Afridi returned to end the misery.
Mahmudullah was bowled by a peach of a delivery to shatter any hopes that Bangladesh harboured of posting a competitive total. Shakib freed his arms when Iftikhar was brought back but it was not long before Rauf induced a hurried top-edge skyer to the fielder at short mid-wicket. Wasim then decimated the tail with three wickets in seven deliveries.
The 205-run target was never enough to pose a threat to Pakistan. With the luxury of playing out a couple of maiden overs at the start, Abdulla Shafique (68, 69 balls, nine fours, two sixes) and Fakhar got on top of the Bangladesh attack. The pair posted 128 runs before the expensive Mehidy Hasan Miraz trapped Shafique in front.
Fakhar, who was dropped after the opening game against the Netherlands and was reported to have suffered a knee injury later, treated a goodly crowd to an exhilarating display with his bat, striking sixes with effortless ease. His return, at the expense of a woefully out-of-form Imam-ul-Haq, was just the fillip that Pakistan needed to infuse life at the start of the innings.
Babar Azam and Fakhar fell in successive overs from Miraz but Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar took on the responsibility of seeing the side home without further hiccups. Not having scored enough runs, the only way Bangladesh could have stopped Pakistan in their tracks was by taking wickets, but their pace bowlers were rendered ineffective by the opening bats.
Long before Pakistan lost their first wicket, countless Bangladesh supporters spilled out of the Eden Garden terraces on to the Esplanade area and nearby Park Street. They seemed to have given up hoping against hope and, instead, chose to set out to try the Kolkata cuisine. They were sure that it would not disappoint their palate. The same couldn’t be said of Shakib and his team.