After four back-to-back defeats, Pakistan staged a solid comeback by winning their crucial World Cup encounter against Bangladesh at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on Tuesday. In the match that Pakistan won by 7 wickets, the Men in Green showed an all-round performance, with bowlers restricting the Tigers to just 204 and then winning the game in the 33rd over.
Pakistan’s opening pair, which had been struggling to give the team a good start in this World Cup, got a 100-run plus partnership, laying a strong foundation for the much-needed win. The Men in Green were under massive pressure after their humiliating defeat to Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s ace pacers Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Wasim picked up three wickets each, breaking the back of Bangladeshi batters. Pakistani cricket fans hailed bowlers and hoped that they may pull off some magic in games ahead in the tournament to enter the semi-finals.
A cricket fan even said that the World Cup should be restarted again as Shaheen Afridi was back in form. “Restart the World Cup, early wickets Shaheen Shah Afridi is back.”
After Pakistan’s all-round performance against Bangladesh, Sanam Jamali asked can the Men in Green still qualify for the semi-finals. “Yup. Well, this is too early to predict something,” another user said. “But the real change would happen If Pakistan beat New Zealand and South Africa in upcoming matches with a better run rate, and South Africa should beat New Zealand then we have a chance to Qualify for the Semis.”
Another cricket fan said that if South Africa beat New Zealand on Wednesday (November 1) then only Pakistan has to win two matches to enter the semi-finals.
Noor Fatima Cheema said this was a good win by Pakistan after they were almost down and about. “Surely a confidence booster for the team, indicating that it’s still not over for them! A good bowling display to restrict Bangladesh to 206 and then an opening partnership to get us to this win! We move on!”
Haroon said that funny how just one good match “can put a smile back on our face when our journey is almost over, but I guess dreaming is free so we’ve to dream for miracle”.
Abdul Rafay, however, asked why Pakistan didn’t hit a boundary to finish the match like everyone else. He said one time Afghanistan was out of the Asia Cup because of a single boundary.
Pakistan will next square off with New Zealand, which is third in the points table, at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday (November 4). With just 3 wins in 7 games, Pakistan is in the fifth position.
