World T20: Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 59 runs

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KOLKATA: Pakistan bowlers proved their mettle once again by restricting Bangladesh to 146-6 after top order batsmen came to form at the right time to bag an easy win by 55 runs to kickoff the World Twenty20 campaign on a high here on Wednesday.

Opting to bat first, Pakistan lost opener Sharjeel Khan (18) cheaply but Hafeez (64) and Shehzad (52) added 95 runs to lay the foundation for a 200-plus total.

Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad struck half centuries and skipper Shahid Afridi came up with a breezy cameo to propel their team to 201-5 in a Group 2 super 10 stage match.

Shahid Afridi (49) promoted himself up the batting order to number four and clobbered four sixes in his blistering 19-ball innings before falling in the final over only one short of the half-century that could have been his first in four years.

Bangladesh´s left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny, who was reported for a suspect bowling action earlier in the tournament, claimed 2-34 but it was otherwise a forgettable outing for their bowling attack.

Earlier, Pakistan captain Afridi won the toss and opted to bat first. "We are struggling with our batting, so we are going with six genuine batsmen and two all-rounders," Afridi had said at the toss.

Their Group Two opponents Bangladesh, who were forced to come through a qualifying round, have been in good form of late and skipper Mashrafe Mortaza admitted he would have preferred to bat first at Kolkata's Eden Gardens.

But the Bangladesh attack was unable to stop a barrage of fours and sixes from the Pakistani batsmen.

With seemingly harder games against hosts India, New Zealand and Australia to follow, Pakistan knows they cannot afford to stumble against Bangaldesh – one of the two teams who have come out of the qualifiers to play in the Super-10 round.

At the Asia Cup that preceded the World Twenty20, Bangladesh knocked Pakistan out of the tournament with a famous win in Dhaka.

Fast bowler Mohammad Sami was not available for the game because he is yet to fully recover from an injury that he sustained in a training session on Monday.

Teams

Pakistan: Ahmed Shehzad, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed†, Shahid Afridi*,Imad Wasim, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Irfan

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim†, Mashrafe Mortaza*, Mohammad Mithun, Al-Amin Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Taskin Ahmed

Score cards

                                                       PAKISTAN

BANGLADESH