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Bangladesh top order slips in
easy conditions
Faisalabad—A sunny afternoon and a flat pitch devoid of any grass at
the Iqbal Stadium were conditions tailor-made for batting but
Bangladesh failed to capitalise, losing half their side in the first
25 overs. Tamim Iqbal piloted the early charge with a half-century
but the excitement was rather short-lived, and the lower order were
left to repair the damage.
It was a good toss to win for Mohammad Ashraful, who had no
hesitation in making use of ideal conditions to pile on a big score
and save face from their embarrassing capitulation in Lahore.
Tamim set the pace with some gorgeous drives through extra cover and
controlled flicks off the pads off the opening bowlers - Umar Gul
and Sohail Tanvir - and it was fairly obvious from the start that
the margin for error in this surface was minimum. High, bony elbows
came for crisp punches through the off side and back past the bowler
and it was the technical correctness of his strokes that set him
apart from his opening partner Shahriar Nafees, who failed for the
second time in as many games.
If ever there’s a title for the Repeat Offender of the month, Nafees
would hold it. Two nights back at the Gaddafi Stadium, he perished
chasing a wide delivery off Tanvir while staying rooted to the
crease and today, his dismissal was identical. Tanvir was rewarded
for a poor delivery and Nafees appeared disgusted with himself for
having fallen for the bait yet again. Aftab Ahmed’s dismissal was
unfortunate as replays indicated the ball struck him above the knee
roll. Gul was the beneficiary of that decision by Aleem Dar and in
the process bagged his 50th ODI wicket.
Ashraful walked in and counterattacked from the word go. He began
with an exquisite cover drive off Tanvir to go past Habibul Bashar
as the highest run-getter in ODIs for Bangladesh, before taking Gul
to task. A half-volley was creamed through extra cover and when Gul
held the length back twice in the same over, Ashraful pulled him
over square leg.
A bowling change did the trick for Pakistan when Iftikhar Anjum was
brought on. In the 17th over, Bangladesh lost Ashraful against the
run of play - trapped lbw for 22 - and it was time to rebuild again.
Shakib Al Hasan added 19 with Tamim before he fell victim to Shahid
Afridi, caught in front of the stumps while going for the sweep.
Tamim carried on with his natural game, giving the charge to the
spinners and he brought up his fifty with a glorious on drive off
Iftikhar. However, he failed to push on and perished for 59, trying
to give Afridi the charge. Bangladesh lost their mainstay and his
dismissal merely played into Pakistan’s hands.
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