World T-20: Pakistan thrash Bangladesh by 8 wickets

Imran Nazir smashed the fastest half-century of the world Cup T20, 2012 to set up a thumping 8 wickets win for Pakistan in the last Group D encounter against Bangladesh to cruise into the super-eight stage here at the Pallekele stadium, Kandy.
 
The powerful batting display by the Pakistani opener ruined the valiant efforts of Shakib-Al-Hasan (84 runs), who gave Bangladesh a chance in the first innings to entertain any thoughts of qualifying into the next stage.
 
It was a do-or-die match for both the teams as Bangladesh needed to win by 36 or more runs to enter the Super-Eights. Having achieved the given equation, Bangladesh could have also crushed Pakistan out of the tournament.
 
While chasing a challenging target of 176 runs, Pakistan’s opening pair Imran Nazir (72) and Mohammad hafeez (45) set the tone by providing a rollicking and much needed start.
 
Nazeer  started the proceedings in top gear and bludgeoned every Bangladesh bowler to unleash a flurry of fours and sixes. The opening batsman was dropped by Abul Hasan on 1 run off Shafiul Islam and that proved decisive in the end.
 
The opening duo was in a mood of complete destruction and thus scored the highest powerplay score (64 runs for no loss) of the mega event.
 
With Imran Nazir was firing all guns, Pakistan skipper Hafeez was happy to play a second fiddle, and the pair put a solid stand of 124 runs in just 13.3 overs to ensure a super-eight berth for the team, which was indeed their first priority.
 
Abul Reza dismissed both the openers in the 14th over of the innings but it was too late for Bangladesh to make a comeback as the pair had done all the damage.
 
The in-form batsman Nasir Jamshed (29) helped his team to get past 139 runs qualifying mark in the 16th over itself in grand style as he launched himself for a maximum.
 
As not just the qualification but the win was on their mind, Jamshed and Kamran Akmal (22) carried on with the business and hit some lusty blows and took the team home with still 1.2 overs to spare.
 
Earlier in the match, Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first on a typical flat sub-continent track that had no assistance for the bowlers.
 
Shakib-Al-Hasan took charge of probably the most formidable bowling attack in the tournament. Umar Gul, who leaked 43 runs in his 3 overs for no wicket. The southpaw was ably supported by the skipper, Mushfiqur Rahim (25) and Tamim Iqbal (24)
 
Shakib, easily considered as the mighty atom of the Bangladesh team, scored boundaries at will and took calculative risks to take his team to a above par score.

The loss is Bangladesh’s 10th consecutive defeat in World Cup T20 games.