On the back of a clinical bowling performance, Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by five wickets in a do-or-die game against Bangladesh at the Adelaide Oval on November 06 (Sunday) and qualified for the semi-finals. Chasing a modest target of 128 runs, the Men in Green batted with caution to begin the run chase and later Pakistan batters changed gears swiftly to avoid any unnecessary setback.
Captain Babar Azam (25 runs off 33 balls) and Mohammad Rizwan (32 runs off 32 balls) registered a 57-run partnership for the opening wicket before the former was dismissed by Nasum Ahmed. Five balls later, Rizwan was dismissed by Ebadot Hossain and Pakistan were put under pressure.
Mohammad Haris then played a brilliant cameo of 31 runs in 18 balls with the help of one four and two sixes to put Pakistan in the driver's seat. Shan Masood remained unbeaten on 24 runs off 14 balls and took his side to the promised land. Babar Azam's men chased down the target with 11 balls to spare.
Earlier, Shaheen Afridi picked up a career-best four-wicket haul to help Pakistan restrict Bangladesh to a paltry 127 for eight in their do-or-die T20 World Cup match here on Sunday.
On a difficult pitch, left-handed opener Najmul Hossain Shanto slammed a counter-attacking 48-ball 54 but Bangladesh lacked the final flourish with Pakistani spinners triggering the collapse before Afridi seizing control in a superb haul of 4/22.
Shanto was at his fluent best and pierced the field at ease en route to his second fifty of the tournament.
After the early dismissal of Liton Das, Shanto and Soumya Sarkar (20; 17b; 1x4, 1x6) worked well and shared 72 runs off 47 balls for the second wicket to lay a good platform for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh were easily looking at a 150-plus score when Shadab Khan (2/30) triggered the downfall.
The leg-spinner took two wickets in two balls, including a dubious DRS dismissal of Bangladeshi skipper Shakib Al Hasan for a golden duck.
Shanto, however, seemed undeterred as he went about his business and completed a 46-ball fifty, his second in the tournament.
But off-spinner Iftikhar Ahmed outsmarted Shanto, cleaning him up with a slower one. Iftikhar returned with fine figures of 3-0-15-1 as Babar Azam's ploy to attack with the off-spinner against left-handed Bangladesh batters did the trick.
Afridi then got into the act, dismissing Mosaddek Hossain, Nurul Hasan and Taskin Ahmed in six balls, across two overs.
Speedster Haris Rauf looked at his best and returned with 1/21.
Bangladesh got off to a decent start with Shanto and Sarkar getting hold of the proceedings. At the halfway mark, Bangladesh were sitting pretty on 70 for 1 when Shadab grabbed two wickets in two balls to put brakes on Bangladesh. Shanto easily found the gaps early on as Naseem Shah struggled to find his line against the left-hander.
