DHAKA: Shahadat Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan shared five quick wickets as Bangladesh restricted Pakistan to 262-8 in the opening match of the Asia Cup tournament in Dhaka on Sunday.
Pakistan were well placed at 160-1 following a 135-run stand for the opening wicket between Mohammad Hafeez (89) and Nasir Jamshed (54) before they lost six wickets for just 38 runs.
Paceman Shahadat finished with figures of 3-53 and left-arm spinner Shakib with 2-41.
But Umar Gul smashed a 25-ball 39 and added 53 vital runs for the eighth wicket with Sarfraz Ahmed (19 not out) to help Pakistan cross the 250-mark in the day-night match.
Pakistan made a steady start after being put in to bat as Hafeez and Jamshed batted confidently against both pace and spin, playing some handsome shots during their 27.5-over stand.
Jamshed, who played his last one-dayer in August 2009, hit one six and five fours in his 64-ball knock before he was run out soon after completing his fifth half-century.
Shahadat started Pakistan's slide when he dismissed Younis Khan (12), Hafeez and Asad Shafiq (four) in successive overs.
Hafeez looked set to reach his fourth one-day hundred before he was caught by Shafiul Islam at square-leg while attempting to pull Shahadat. He hit seven fours in his 126-ball knock.
Shakib removed Umar Akmal (21) and then Shahid Afridi, who was caught and bowled after the spinner twice failed to hold return catches but made amends when the ball ricocheted off non-striker Misbah-ul-Haq.
Afridi, who needed just one run to complete 7,000 one-day runs, failed to open his account.
Defending champions India and Sri Lanka are the other teams in the fray. Each side will play the other once in the round-robin league, with the top two advancing to the final on March 22.


















Comments
Comments are closed for this article.