Pakistan beat Bangladesh, advance to Super Eights

Pakistan beat Bangladesh by eight wickets Tuesday to qualify for the World Twenty20’s Super Eights stage at their opponents’ expense. Imran Nazir’s brilliant 72 and skipper Mohammad Hafeez’s 45 took Pakistan past Bangladesh’s challenging 175-6 in Pallekele, after already overhauling the target needed to go through on net run-rate. New Zealand had already qualified for the round of eight from Group D. Shakib Al Hasan hit the highest individual score by a Bangladeshi in to propel his team to a challenging 175-6 in their must-win group D clash against Pakistan. The 25-year-old left-hander scored 84 — his second Twenty20 fifty —and added 68 runs for the third wicket with skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (25) after Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat at Pallekele stadium. Hasan, whose previous T20 best of 57 came against Ireland at Belfast earlier this year, smashed 11 boundaries and two sixes during his 54-ball knock, improving Nazimuddin’s previous best of 81, against Pakistan at Nairobi in 2007. Opener Tamim Iqbal hit five boundaries in his 12-ball 24 before he was unfortunately run out. It was Hasan who punished every Pakistani bowler, with Umar Gul going for 43 runs in his three overs. Pakistan were sloppy in the field, with Sohail Tanveer dropping a sitter off Rahim and Shahid Afridi failing to hold on to a sharp chance off Hasan — both in one Yasir Arafat over. Pakistan’s batting more than made up for a thoroughly disappointing show on the field, as it put Bangladesh’s attack to the sword to book a place in the Super Eights. Pakistan needed 176 for victory but only 140 to qualify for the Super Eights — Nazir and Hafeez made calculators and statisticians redundant during a first-wicket stand that broke the back of Bangladesh’s bowlers. Not learning a thing from the first half of the game, Mashrafe Mortaza and Shafiul Islam tried to bounce the openers out. Nazir greeted this form of attack with panache, picking the length early and pulling with ferocity. When Hafeez realised that it was Nazir’s day, he gladly played second fiddle, feeding the strike to Nazir and watching as he powered his team to a total of 64 off the PowerPlay overs. When Mushfiqur Rahim switched to spin to stem the rot, Nazir was already in full cry, and even the smallest error in length was brutally punished. Shakib Al Hasan learnt the hard way as he dropped one short and Nazir rocked on to the back foot in a flash to pull the ball deep into the stands. When Nazir brought up his half-century, off only 25 balls, the game was already as good as in the bag. But, after celebrating the end of a dry spell with much relief, Nazir knuckled down.   It was only in the 14th over of the innings, with 124 on the board, that Bangladesh managed to separate the openers, as Nazir (72) flat-batted Abul Hasan down to long-off. As is so often the case in these situations, one wicket brought another as Hafeez (45) chased a wide one from Hasan to be caught behind.   The qualifying mark was breached when Nasir Jamshed pulled Hasan over midwicket for six. Jamshed, who scored a cultured half-century against New Zealand in Pakistan’s first match of the tournament, helped himself to 29 in a 52-run partnership with Kamran Akmal that took Pakistan home with eight balls to spare.   At the break, it seemed like Bangladesh had finally done enough to break its 13-year jinx against Pakistan. Ever since a win at the ICC World Cup 1999 in Northampton, Bangladesh had failed to get the better of Pakistan, though it recently came close in the Asia Cup.   If Bangladesh was allowed to dream, it was only thanks to a series of enterprising innings, none more so than Shakib’s 54-ball 84. The kind of day Pakistan was having on the field was typified by Tanvir’s blooper at midwicket, when a flailed pull from Mushfiqur off Arafat floated towards the fielder like a feather on a light breeze. From gulftoday