The Super 4 of the Asia Cup 2023 started today with the match between Bangladesh and the host, Pakistan. Pakistan, the ODI No.1 team in the world, gave no chance to Bangladesh at Gaddafi Stadium and secured a dominating victory by seven wickets.
Before today’s game, Pakistan tasted four defeats in their previous five meetings with Bangladesh. But the ODI No.1 team thrashed Bangladesh in the first game of the Super Four. Pakistan have always been famous for their pace bowling lineup. Their pacers continue showing their aggression in this tournament. Today, nine wickets of Bangladesh have been taken by the Pakistani pacers. Pacer Haris Rauf won the Player of the Match for taking four wickets alone.
Match Report
Bangladesh haven’t lost the toss in Asia Cup 2023. Captain Shakib Al Hasan also won the toss today and decided to bat first against Pakistan. Therefore, Mohammad Naim and Mehedi Hasan Miraz came into the crease to start the batting innings for Bangladesh.
Mehedi Hasan Miraz hit a brilliant century against Afghanistan in their 2nd game. But he failed to contribute today as he had gone duck in 2nd over. Naim and Liton Das then made a good response, hitting some boundaries. But they couldn’t continue picking runs. Liton Das lost his wicket after scoring 16, while Naim departed the crease with 20 runs.
When the young stars struggled to survive, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim took all the responsibility to rescue the team. The two experienced batters made a brilliant partnership of 100 runs to handle the initial disaster.
They were looking good, but Fahim Ashraf broke their partnership by taking the wicket of Shakib Al Hasan. Shakib scored 53 runs from 57 balls before leaving the crease. A few overs later, Mushfiq also followed the same path. He lost his wicket to Haris Rauf after scoring 64 runs.
After that, Pakistani pacers didn’t take much time to take the remaining wickets of Bangladesh. Haris Rauf got four wickets alone, while Naseem Shah picked up three wickets. Due to their aggression, Bangladesh became all-out in just 193 runs.
As the target was not massive, Pakistani batters didn’t take any risky shots in the powerplay. They were very calm between the wickets. Pakistan picked up only 35 runs from the first nine overs, losing one wicket.
After that, Imamul Haque added 39 runs with the captain Babar Azam. But the skipper scored only 17 runs before losing the wicket to Taskin Ahmed. Meanwhile, Imamul Haque led Pakistan toward the target with Mohammad Rizwan. Both batters picked up half-century today.
Although Imamul Haque lost his wicket after scoring the highest 78 for Pakistan, Mohammad Rizwan remained not out in 63 runs. Relying on their scores, Pakistan chased the target within 39.3 overs with seven wickets in their hand. Therefore, the host goes to the top of the table with this victory.
