‘Ab kya fayda jeet ke’ – Fans react as Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 7 wickets in ODI World Cup clash

Pakistan and Bangladesh clashed against each other in the 31st match of the ODI World Cup 2023 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday, October 31. The Men in Green finally clinched a win breaking their 4-loss streak by defeating the Bangla Tigers by 7 wickets. Pakistan’s chances of qualifying for the knockouts are still alive while Bangladesh are out of the tournament and will play their remaining matches for the pride.

Talking about the match, Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first. But the decision proved wrong as Pakistani speedster Shaheen Afridi made an impressive start by taking early wickets, removing Tanzid Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto in his first two overs. Haris Rauf, though initially conceding boundaries, managed to dismiss Mushfiqur Rahim.

This early collapse left Bangladesh at 23/3, but Litton Das and Mahmudullah stabilised with a fifty partnership. However, a soft dismissal saw Litton Das departing for 45 runs in the 21st over, thanks to Iftikhar Ahmed. The scoring rate then slowed, and although Mahmudullah reached fifty, he couldn’t push on, falling to Shaheen on 56 runs.

Shakib Al Hasan found his groove after a slow start but was eventually dismissed by Rauf. The lower order struggled, and Mohammad Wasim Jr’s reverse swing and full deliveries limited Bangladesh to just 204 runs. Shaheen and Wasim took three wickets each, while Rauf claimed two.

Brilliant batting performance by Pakistan openers

Chasing the target, Abdullah Shafique opened the innings with his new opening partner. Fakhar Zaman was finally included in the team after warming the bench for several matches. Both of them provided a brilliant start to the team by stitching a 128-run stand for the first wicket. 

Shafique notched up his fourth 50+ score of the tournament playing eye-pleasing strokes. Fakhar, in his comeback game, showed how dangerous he can be at the top of the order and played a magnificent knock of 81 runs and smashed seven sixes and three fours to extinguish any hopes in the Bangladeshi camp. Pakistan lost only three wickets, all to Mehidy Hasan Miraz, but that was in a quest to up the ante as they won the match with 17.3 overs to spare.

Here’s how fans reacted: