What a day out at Lord's for Imam-ul-Haq and Shaheen Afridi. Two youngsters who started their WC campaigns disappointingly, but ended with a bang. It is going to be a tough choice for man of the match but Shaheen might just eke it out. But Bangladesh have a lot of positives to carry through after this wonderful campaign.
The openers started decently before Soumya was dismissed off a good catch. Tamim was then left in knots by a Shaheen slower ball and Mushfiq castled himself. Liton Das looked good for a while before being deceived by another slower one from Shaheen.
All this while, Shakib quietly built up another patient half-century before Shaheen nicked him off. Mahmudullah and Mosaddek hung around for a bit but the latter holed out looking for a glory shot. Shaheen then got rid of Mahmudullah with a searing yorker which will make the Top 5 list for 'Balls of the World Cup' easily. He also cleaned up the tail to end up with six wickets.
Of course it was all possible because of a terrific hundred by Imam and a classy 96 by Babar Azam, who was unlucky to miss the century. Tomorrow there is a double header when India take on Sri Lanka and Australia take on South Africa. Do join us for both,and we shall see you then. Tada!
44.1 Shaheen to Mustafizur, WIDE, short ball down leg
44.1 Shaheen to Mustafizur, OUT, was it ever in doubt. Poor Fizz. Got two world-class yorkers and no.11 can do nothing. Yorker on middle and the stumps are disturbed
Mustafizur b Shaheen 1(3)
43.1 Shadab to Mehidy, FOUR, wants to cut, gets an outside edge which runs past slip
43.2 Shadab to Mehidy, DOT, gets forward nicely to defend this
43.3 Shadab to Mehidy, 1 run, yorks himself after coming down, and takes oneafter digging it out to deep mid wicket. Mash was never making it if they ran two
43.4 Shadab to Mortaza, OUT, clever stuff. Knew the Bangla skipper will run down at him, throws it wide, he does dance down and misses it, and it is an easy stumping in the end
Mortaza st Sarfaraz b Shadab 15(14)
The Fizz is the no.11 batsman
43.5Shadab to Mustafizur, DOT.
43.6 Shadab to Mustafizur, 1 run.
Mashrafe Mortaza himself at no.10. He will want to hit a few long ones in his WC game
42.1 Shaheen to Mortaza, SIX, yes he does! Full on middle, he goes after it, and powers it over long on
42.2 Shaheen to Mortaza, DOT, typical response, he goes for a short one, does not rise up as much, defended to point
42.3 Shaheen to Mortaza, 1 run, backs away, advances and hits to deep extra cover
42.4 Shaheen to Mehidy, 1 run, full toss and he gets an outside edge to third man
42.5 Shaheen to Mortaza, DOT, backs away again, Shaheen throws it wide on seeing him, and he misses the slash
42.6 Shaheen to Mortaza, DOT.