 Pakistan crush Bangladesh in Tri-Series opener
8th Jun 2008 23:30 IST
Agencies
Earlier, sparkling half-centuries from Butt (70) and Yousuf (59) and the late firework by Misbah-ul-Haq (39) propelled Pakistan to 233 before the side was folded in 39.3 overs.
Put into bat after intermittent rain had cut short the tie into a 40-overs-a-side affair, Pakistan got off to a solid start with Butt and Akmal (25) adding 75 runs in 12 overs at the Sher-E-Bangla stadium.
Though Akmal and Younis (0) returned off successive balls, Yousuf chipped in with a 56-ball 59 and Misbah looked still in the Twenty20 mode as he creamed 39 runs off 22 balls to help Pakistan cruise past the 200-mark in the 35th over.
Bangladesh, however, did well to put a skid under the run rate by claiming wickets at regular intervals, with Abdur Razzak (3/35), Kapali (3/49) and Mortaza (2/36) sharing eight wickets among themselves.
Butt and Akmal began well, mixing caution with aggression and the left-hander, who eventually notched up his sixth successive 50-plus score, was in the thick of things as he came down hard on Shahadat Hossain, while Dolar Mahmud did not go unpunished either.
The debutant, however, drew first blood in the 12th over when Akmal slashed at Dolar and an airborne Mushfiqur Rahim took a spectacular catch behind the stumps.
Younis fell in the next ball following a mix-up with Butt but once Yousuf joined the left-hander in the middle, the hosts found it difficult to stem the run flow.
The duo maintained a healthy run rate till Butt fell to Kapali after an 84-ball 70 that included 10 hits to the fence.
Afridi (20 off 17 balls) sizzled briefly before Kapali dealt a double blow by removing the right-hander and Yousuf off successive balls.
Yousuf's 56-ball 59 included seven boundaries.
Razzak then got the better of Shoaib Malik's (9) defence and two runs later, rampaging Misbah was trapped by Mortaza and by the time they scored four more runs, the entire Pakistan side had folded with three balls still to go in their innings. |
