London: Shaheen Shah Afridi snared six wickets and returned with best ever figures (6/35) by a Pakistan bowler in a World Cup, but his team failed to better their net run-rate in their final group game against Bangladesh which they won by 94 runs at the Lord’s on Friday, helping New Zealand qualify for the semifinals as the fourth team.
With fifth-placed Pakistan needing to break the world record for margin of victory in a one-day international, ton-up Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam shared a 157-run second wicket stand to guide Pakistan to 315/9 in 50 overs.
It meant Bangladesh needed only eight runs to end Pakistan’s hopes of progress and they reached that in the second over.
For Bangladesh, veteran allrounder Shakib Al Hasan racked up his seventh 50-plus score in eight innings in the World Cup with a fluent 64 off 77 balls, his innings laced with six fours. Shakib finished with 606 runs and 11 wickets, the best ever show by an all-rounder at the World Cup.
Promising 19-year old pacer Afridi continued to impress with the ball as he returned career-best figures of 6/35 in 9.1 overs and also became the youngest to take a five-wicket haul in a World Cup.
Afridi took the wickets of Tamim Iqbal (8), Liton Das (32), Shakib, Mahmudullah (29), Mohammad Saifuddin (0) and Mustafizur Rahman (1).
Pakistan finished level on points (11) with the Kiwis but fell behind on net run rate, while Bangladesh, who were already out of the competition.
Brief scores: Pakistan: 315/9 in 50 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 100, Babar Azam 96, Imad Wasim 43, Mustafizur Rahman 5/75) Bangladesh: 221 all out in 44.1 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 64, Shaheen Shah Afridi 6/35). (IANS)
