World Of Cricket

Dhaka: Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by 2 runs to in a nerve wracking contest to lift the Asia Cup for the 2nd time. Bangladesh won people’s heart all around the world with their fabulous performance.

Pakistan's cricket team celebrate with the trophy after becoming Asian Champion © Reuters

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Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and decided to bowl first. Bangladesh started well first by taking the wicket of Nasir Jamshed (9) and then Younis Khan (1).

Misbah-ul-Haq (13) in the 15th over found himself stranded in the middle of the pitch and that’s why got run-out. An immense pressure was developed on Pakistani falcons in result of the scoreline 55/3.

Bengali tigers snatched 4th wicket in 22nd over by removing Mohammad Hafeez who struggled and scored 40 runs off 87 balls by hitting 4 FOURS.

Future of Pakistan – Umar Akmal and Hammad Azam built a good partnership of 69 runs to take Pakistan out of this situation. Shakib Al Hasan broke this partnership by taking the wicket of Hammad Azam (30), in the next over Pakistan also lost Umar Akmal (30) in a suspicious way, he was give caught behind but it wasn’t clear in replays that the ball kissed his bat or not on its way to the gloves of keeper.

Shahid Afridi played a much needed innings and scored 32 runs off 22 balls, he hit 4 beautiful FOURS & 1 stunning SIX. Sarfraz Ahmed took some time to get settled but played a sensible knock of 46.

Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal scored 4 runs each. Aizaz Cheema remained not out at 9 with Sarfraz Ahmed (46). 19 runs were bagged by Pakistan in the last over which was bowled by Shahadat Hossain.

Pakistan ended up by scoring 236/9 in 50.0 overs. Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzaq and Shakib Al Hasan took 2, 2, 2 wickets. Nazmul Hossain and Mahmudullah took 1 wicket each.

Bangladesh went off to a good start, Tamim hit 2 FOURS to Gul in 4th & 6th over.  Nazimuddin looked nervous but kept his feet on the ground to build a solid partnership.

Nazimuddin enjoyed some luck, first when umpire Steve Davis didn’t gave him lbw out in the 10th over at the immense appeal of Saeed Ajmal and co. ; replays showed that the ball hit him in line and would have gone one to hit the stumps, Nazim was granted with another chance when he was dropped by Hammad in the 12th over at the ball of Cheema.

Pakistan finally in the 17th over got their first breakthrough when Shahid Afridi removed Nazimuddin (16), he was caught in the deep by Younis Khan, it was a superb take.

In the next over, Saeed Ajmal surprised Jahurul Islam (0) with his doosra and bought second wicket for Pakistan, Jahurul was caught in the slip by Younis Khan.

Tamim Iqbal (60) after scoring his 4th consecutive half century chipped one ball to extra cover where Younis took another good low catch. Tamim’s departure silenced the crowd. The score of Bangladesh was 81/3 in 23.1 overs.

Responsibility once again fell at the shoulders of Shakib Al Hasan and Nasir Hossain. Pakistani bowling attack dried up the runs, former captain Shahid Afridi bowled impressive spell and gave only 28 runs in his 10 overs, he also took 1 wicket.

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Shakib spanked 2 FOURS to Hammad Azam and released some pressure, his partner Nasir was still feeling it. Pakistan came back strongly again in the batting powerplay but failed to pick up any wicket, those 5 overs went for 21 runs (1 FOUR).

84 runs were required off 60 balls. Shakib first struck FOUR to Gul & then SIX to Cheema. It was all going in the favour of Bangladesh before the fall of Nasir Hossain who became victim of the short ball of Umar Gul, skipper Misbah-ul-Haq took an easy catch at mid wicket. Crowd which was cheering every  run was stunned.

Bangladeshi skipper Mushfiqur Rahim who smashed India in the last stages came in to bat in the final but in the next over he lost his partner Shakib who was playing at 68.

Crowd gave Shakib a standing ovation for playing a great innings. Pakistan kept on squeezing the runs and in the result got another wicket, this time the wicket of their captain Mushfiqur Rahim who scored 10.

Now everything was on the tail-enders. 39 runs were required off 24 balls, Mashrafe Mortaza hit 2 FOURS to Umar Gul and shifted the balance back to his team.

Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq gambled by bringing back Saeed Ajmal as he was going to bowl his last over but he proved his captain right by taking the wicket of Mashrafe Mortaza (18).

19 runs were required off 12 balls, Umar Gul bowled very good yorkers but he over-stepped in that over which gave a free-hit to Bangladesh, they got just 2 runs off it but the over went for 10 runs. Mahmudullah and Abdur Razzaq ran through the wickets quite well.

The equation was 9 runs off 6 balls. Misbah-ul-Haq handed over the ball to 32 year old Aizaz Cheema who was feeling huge pressure. Mahmudullah was on the strike, he took single off 1st ball, Abdur Razzaq earned a leg-bye at the 2nd ball, Aizaz bowled a slow legcutter; Mahmudullah didn’t read it and hence missed it, at the 4th ball; Mahmudullah played a shot towards long-off, fielder took time and threw the ball towards the keeper who flicked it onto the stumps but missed the target which resulted in an over-throw, Bangladeshi batsmen ran three runs, Pakistani players were looking dejected for poor work. 4 runs were required off 2 balls. On the next ball, Cheema clean bowled Abdur Razzaq. Some people in crowd were unable to feel the pressure and because of it they were crying, people were praying in and out of the stadium. Aizaz Cheema bowled a yorker on leg stump and Shahadat Hossain only managed to dug it out, he took a single and umpire gave it as a leg-bye.

Pakistan fielders ran towards Cheema and embraced him. He really held his nerve and bowled beautifully in the end. Bangladesh scored 234/8 in 50.0 overs. Aizaz Cheema bagged 3 wickets for 46 in 7 overs, Umar Gul & Saeed Ajmal took 2, 2 wickets and Shahid Afridi took 1 wicket.

Crowd was in deep shock after seeing this dramatic end, even the Bangladeshi players were weeping, those scenes were never easy to watch, tears were in the eyes of Nasir Hossain and Mahmudullah. Bangladeshi captain Mushfiqur Rahim was crying hard by embracing Shakib Al Hasan. It was no doubt a sad end for Bengalis who gave their heart, played an outstanding cricket and showed the world that they are capable of beating any big team. People from all around the world texted, even from Pakistan that “Bangladesh won our hearts”.

In year 2000′ Pakistan won their first Asia Cup under the captaincy of Moin Khan in Bangladesh and now in year 2012′ Pakistan won their second Asia Cup under the captaincy of Misbah-ul-Haq Khan again in Bangladesh. They focused on their target and gifted their nation and fans a beautiful victory, this has doubled the happiness for Pakistanis as they celebrates 23rd March as ‘Pakistan Day’. Many many congratulations to them from ‘World Of Cricket’.

The next Asia Cup will be held in UAE in year 2014′ and there are reports that more then 4 teams will participate in it.

HQ Photo Gallery: Click here and enjoy some eye-catching collection of photos from this match.

Result: Pakistan won by 2 runs.

Man Of The Match: Shahid Afridi (Pakistan).

Man Of The Tournament: Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh).

Dhaka: Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka by 5 wickets and will face Pakistan in the final. 2011 World Cup winner India & finalist Sri Lanka will pack their luggage as both are out of the Asia Cup 2012.

Bangladeshi batsman Shakib Al Hasan (L) and Nasir Hossain (L) react after winning the match against Sri Lanka © Getty Image

Bangladesh won the toss & decided to field first. Nazmul Hossain greeted his captain by taking 3 quick wickets of Sri Lankan top order batsmen. He first clean bowled Sri Lankan skipper Jayawardene, then sent Sangakkara back and in the 10th over he went through the gates of Dilshan.

The score of Sri Lanka was 37/3 but then Kapugedera and Thirimanne stretched Sri Lankan innings by building a good partnership, they gave tough time to Bangladeshi bowlers specially to Shakib and Shahadat.

After making a partnership of 88 runs with Kapugedera, Thirimanne (48) got out to Abdur Razzaq. It was indeed a lucky breakthrough for Bangladesh. New batsman Upul Tharanga continued his good form and support Kapu in his effort, both added 49 runs together.

Kapugedera was dismissed by Abdur Razzaq at 62. After his return, Sri Lanka tumbled and lost Maharoof (3) and Kulasekara (1) in no time. Upul Tharanga who was looking good gifted his wicket to Shahadat Hossain at 48.

Senanayake and Malinga tried to raise the score and added 19* and 10 respectively. Sri Lanka was bowled out for 232 in 49.5 overs. Nazmul Hossain took 3 wickets, Abdur Razzaq & Shakib Al Hassan took 2, 2 wickets and Mashrafe Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain shared 1 wicket each.

10 overs & 20 runs were deducted because of the rain, the revised target was 212 (40.0 overs).

Bangladesh lost Nazimuddin (6) once again early in the chase, he was followed by Jahurul Islam (2) who also threw his wicket away.

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Bangladeshi captain Mushfiqur Rahim (1) promoted himself up the order but didn’t capitalize the opportunity to strengthen the innings and became victim of Kulasekara.

3 quick wickets silenced the crowd at Shere Bangla National Stadium. Tamim Iqbal was still at the crease, he was joined by old captain Shakib Al Hasan, both took time and created a block to stop the flood which was threatened by the opposition.

Sri Lankan bowlers tried their best but failed to break the defenses of Bengali tigers. Senanayake in 20th over broke the 76-run partnership by sending Tamim (59) back to pavilion.

Senanayake after a couple of overs also sent the other settled batsmen Shakib (56) back to pavilion. Bangladesh supporters felt sad on the return of their best all-rounder.

Young & exciting Nasir Hossain handled the innings carefully with Mahmudullah. Both were tested by short deliveries in the start but later on both enjoyed bad bowling by Sri Lankan seamers.

Bangladesh successfully chased the target by scoring 212/5 with 17 balls remaining. Nasir and Mahmudullah remained not-out at 36 & 32 respectively. Kulasekara and Senanayake shared 2 wicket each whereas Lakmal took 1 wicket.

With this victory, Bangladesh leveled with India on points table (8 points each) but because of head to head counts where Bangladesh defeated India by 5 wickets, Bangladesh have won their spot for the first time in the final of Asia Cup. They’ll face Pakistan in the final on March 22, 2012.

Result: Bangladesh won by 5 wickets.

Man Of The Match: Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)

Dhaka: India defeated Pakistan by six wickets in the Asia Cup one-day tournament at Shere Bangla National Stadium of Mirpur on Sunday. Virat Kohli brutally assaulted Pakistani bowlers and scored 183 runs.

Virat Kohli is pumped up after reaching his third hundred in four ODIs © AFP

Pakistan won the toss and Misbah-ul-Haq elected to bat first for the first time in Asia Cup 2012 tournament.  Pakistan’s openers backed their captain with the decision to bat first by scoring a partnership of  224 runs. Which is Pakistan’s highest against India, surpassing the 144 between Aamer Sohail and Saeed Anwar at Singapore on April 5, 1996.  Mohammad Hafeez made 105 runs with 9 fours and 1 six in his innings. His partner Nasir Jamshed made 112  runs with 10 fours and 1 six.

Shahid Afridi completed his 7,000 ODI runs in this match, he is the sixth Pakistani to complete 7,000 runs in ODIs, joining Inzamam-ul-Haq (11739), Mohammad Yousuf (9720), Saeed Anwar (8824), Javed Miandad (7381) and Salim Malik (7170).

Pakistan lost some quick wickets in the last stage, Younis Khan then came to bat and scored fiery 52 off 34 balls. This is   his sixth fifty against India which helped Pakistan post the score of 329-6 in 5o overs.

India had to chase 330 runs in 50 overs but Hafeez seemed to spoil their chase by taking the wicket of Gambhir on the second ball of first over. India were 0-1 (0.2) then Tendulkar and Kohli made a  solid partnership 125 runs. Where Sahcin Tendulkar scored 52 runs with 5 fours  and 1 six in his 96th ODI 50. Tendulkar fell victim to Saeed Ajmal, next batsman to come was Rohit Sharma who made a solid partnership with kohli which took the match out of Pakistan’s hand.

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Rohit and Virat put on 172 for the third wicket – India’s second highest against Pakistan. Virat kohli recorded a career-best innings in ODIs by scoring 183 off 148 balls. The said innings is also the highest by a batsman against Pakistan, obliterating the 156 off 138 balls by Brian Lara at Adelaide on January 28, 2005. Rohit Sharma’s 68 is his third fifty against Pakistan & 12th overall in ODIs.

India by scoring 330/4 in 47.5 overs posted it in the record book as their highest successful chase in ODIs, eclipsing the 326 for eight against England at Lord’s on July 13, 2002.

Pakistan qualified for the final game even after losing this one against India as they’ve 9 points. India will have to wait for the result of Bangladesh v Sri Lanka game which will be played on March 20.

Result: India won by 6 wickets.

Man Of The Match: Virat Kohli (India).

St Vincent: The West Indies lost their last seven wickets for just 43 runs as Australia claimed a 64-run victory in the first one-day international in Kingstown on Friday.

Australia's players celebrate after securing a 64-run win that puts them 1-0 up in the series © AFP

Courtesy: Cricket Australia

The hosts looked on track to chase down Australia’s paltry total of 8-204 as Dwayne Bravo (32) and Marlon Samuels (35) had the hosts in a comfortable position at 3-97.

But some fine work by spinner Xavier Doherty, who claimed 4-49, saw the West Indies collapse to be eventually dismissed for just 140 in the 33rd over, with only some late hitting from captain Darren Sammy (35) getting them anywhere near the target.

But despite some impressive captaincy by Shane Watson in just his second match overseeing the Australian team, the tourists know their batting will have to substantially improve over the remaining ODI matches after only two batsmen, George Bailey (48) and Dave Warner (40) made anything close to a half-century.

Watson won the toss and chose to bat, though, with himself and opening partner David Warner posting 31 before the skipper was trapped lbw by Dwayne Bravo for 21.

Peter Forrest (26) and Warner then added another 60 before they were both dismissed in the space of five balls from part-timer Marlon Samuels, and when David Hussey fell cheaply three overs later, the Australians were in danger of squandering their good start.

But Mike Hussey and one-day international debutant Bailey steadied the ship, putting on 63 for the fifth wicket before Hussey fell for 26.

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The tourists struggled to get the West Indies bowlers away in the final overs, but Bailey and Dan Christian (18 not out) managed to help lift the score past 200 by the end of the 50 overs.

Dwayne Bravo was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with 3-58, while Kemar Roach and Samuels both claimed two scalps.

The West Indies chase got off to a rocky start with Kieran Powell, Johnson Charles and Darren Bravo all falling cheaply within the first 10 overs.

Struggling at 3-33, Dwayne Bravo and Samuels resurrected the West Indies chase with some intelligent batting.

But, just as the pair looked settled at the crease, Christian clean bowled Bravo to spark an almighty collapse, with the hosts losing their next six wickets for just seven runs.

Skipper Sammy swung the bat late in a desperate attempt to claim victory, but Clint McKay had him caught by Christian for 35 as the visitors got their Caribbean tour off to the perfect start.

Result: Australia won by 64 runs.

Man Of The Match: George Bailey (Australia).

Dhaka: Bangladesh delivered an upset 5-wicket defeat to India. The remarkable 100th international century of master-blaster Sachin Tendulkar went in vain.

Bangladesh defeated India after 5 years © AFP

Bangladesh won the toss and decided to field first. Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar started the innings, India lost their first wicket at 25 when Shafiul Islam bowled Gambhir (11).

Virat Kohli then came in and supported Tendulkar in his art work. Both played really good looking shot, specially the ‘little-master’ was looking in great touch.

Kohli (66) after making 2nd wicket partnership worth 148 with Tendulkar got out to Abdur Razzaq in the start of 3rd powerplay. Suresh Raina was promoted up the order to use the powerplay as the score of India was 173/2 in 35.5 overs.

Sachin reached to his 100th international century in 44th over by taking single; his team-mates, fans were on the feet, Bangladeshi fielders congratulated him and he raised his bat to acknowledge the praise. It was not only a proud moment for India but also for Cricket. It is a milestone which may never be achieved again.

In the 47th over, Mashrafe Mortaza first sent Raina (51) back in the pavilion and then sent legend Tendulkar back. The master scored 114 off 147 balls and struck 12 FOURS & 1 SIX.

Rohit Sharma (4) didn’t last long, he was undone by a beautiful throw of Nasir Hossain. MS Dhoni added 21 runs and remained not-out with Jadeja (4).

India with the accomplishment of Sachin mounted a huge score of 289 in 50.0 overs and lost 5 wickets. Mortaza took 2 wickets, Shafiul Islam and Abdur Razzaq took 1 wicket each.

Tamim & Nazimuddin started things for Bangladesh. Team India received gift when Nazimuddin skied one ball high up in the air and Rohit took an easy catch.

Jahurul Islam who was playing his 8th ODI played a good knock with Tamim, both showed their aggressive intent and raised a partnership of 113 runs. Jahurul after making his 1st international fifty got out to Jadeja.

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Young batsman Nasir Hossain came in but then settled Tamim Iqbal got out after making 70, he gave a good platform to the follow-up batsmen. Old captain and one of world’s best all rounders; Shakib Al Hasan joined Nasir in Bangladesh’s interest.

Both took Indian bowlers on their target and nailed them. World Of Cricket never witnessed such hard hitting from Bangladesh before.

After scoring 49 off 31, Shakib got out to Ashwin, he was given stump-out, replays showed that his one foot was out of the line, one was on the line and the line belongs to the 3rd umpire who gave Shakib out.

It was a good and important breakthrough for India but they never what is coming next. Bangladeshi captain Mushfiqur Rahim hit 2 consecutive Sixes to Irfan Pathan in 48th over, then a FOUR & a SIX in the next over to Parveen Kumar which took the game completely away from India.

Nasir Hossain skied one in greed of ending the game in style and was caught out as 2 runs were required off 8 balls. In the next over, new batsman Mahmudullah hit FOUR to win the game.

He embraced Mushfiqur Rahim and the other Bangladeshi players from the pavilion ran out to celebrate their outstanding victory. Bangladesh scored 293/5 in 49.2 overs to win the game. Parveen Kumar took 3 wickets for 56 in 10 overs, Ravichandran Ashwin & Jadeja took 1, 1 wicket.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was honoured with souvenir by Bangladesh Cricket Board, it was presented by its president Mustafa Kamal.

Last time when Bangladesh defeated India was 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup (West Indies) [March 17, 2007], it was also a 5-wicket victory and was also a group match, India was bowled out in it for 191 and Bangladesh chased it successfully in 48.3 overs.

This victory of Bangladesh will keep the tournament alive, Pakistan who is on top of the group with 9 points can still find itself in a problem as India is at no.2 with 4 points and Bangladesh is at no.3 with 4 points (positions are different because of run-rate). India will face Pakistan in the next match on March 18, 2012 and Bangladesh will face Sri Lanka on March 20, 2012.

HQ Photo Gallery: Click here and enjoy the photos from the match.

Result: Bangladesh won by 5 wickets.

Man Of The Match: Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh).

Dhaka: Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by 6 wickets. Incredible performance by the captain Misbah-ul-Haq and his bowling unit.

Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal put on 152 for the fourth wicket © AFP

Mahela Jayawardene (12) – skipper of Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat first. He and ex-captain Dilshan (20) started good and struck couple of boundaries to Aizaz Cheema who came back seriously and blew the Sri Lankan top order by sending their both openers back in the pavilion.

Chandimal (0) was undone by Umar Gul courtesy to a smart catch by Younis Khan in the slip. Thirimanne (7) was the next one who lost ground but this time the bowler was Hammad Azam.

The score of Sri Lanka was 65/4 in 14.3 overs. After this collapse, Sangakkara and old opener Tharanga stuck together at the crease to add some runs to the Sri Lankan innings.

Both silenced the cannons of Pakistan for some time and made a partnership of 96 runs. Saeed Ajmal was introduced by the Pakistani captain in the 3rd powerplay to break this partnership and he did exactly the same thing, he bowled Tharanga (57) through his gates.

He then erased Maharoof (2) who went for a wild hit but completely missed it. Nuwan Kulasekara (4) was picked up by the keeper at the good bouncer of Umar Gul.

Kumar Sangakkara (71) who was losing his partners tried to take on Pakistani bowlers all alone, cost him an inside edge on Cheema’s delivery which uprooted his middle stump.

Lasith Malinga (1) was the 4th victim of Aizaz Cheema. Suranga Lakmal went for a wild hit on the ball of the magician – Ajmal but was caught by long-off fielder Nasir Jamshed.

Sri Lanka was bowled out in 45.4 overs at the score of 188. Aizaz Cheema took 4 wickets for 43 in 9.0 overs, Saeed Ajmal took 3 wickets for 27 in 8.4 overs, Umar Gul took 2 wickets for 20 in 8.0 overs and Hammad Azam took 1 wicket for 21 in 4.0 overs.

Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed as usual started cautiously and this behavior cost Pakistan 3 wickets, it started with Jamshed (18) who threw his bat to a short-ball bowled by Lakmal, then Mohammad Hafeez (11) who played a ridiculous shot on the bowling of Prasanna and in the end Younis Khan (2) who punched a ball to mid-on where Maharoof took a good catch.

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Once again Pakistani top order failed to score and the burden fell on the middle-order specially on captain Misbah-ul-Haq.

He managed to keep his aggressive partner Umar Akmal cool and keep the scoreboard ticking, both took their time but in the end came out with some best shots.

Sri Lankan captain Mahela used his all available resources against these two brilliant batsmen but nothing went in his way. His key bowler Malinga who was rested in the 1st match against India because of injury wasn’t in form today, he was hit for 4 FOURS by Umar Akmal in 1 over.

There were some mighty SIXES struck by this couple. Both added 152 runs for the fourth wicket partnership. Junior Akmal who was playing at 77; in greed of finishing the match in style, he hit one high up in the air which in the end was caught out by Tharanga who earlier dropped him at 46.

Hammad Azam came in next, 4 runs were required off 6 balls to win the game with bonus point, he blocked first 4 balls but then took aerial rout to hit the 5th ball over mid-off for FOUR. Misbah-ul-Haq ran towards him, hugged him and was looking very delighted because of a bright smile on his face. He knew that Pakistan is now very close to the final.

It took 39.5 overs for Pakistan (189/4) to win the game. Misbah-ul-Haq remained not-out at 71 with Hammad Azam at 4. It is a highest score for Misbah-ul-Haq as a captain of Pakistan Cricket Team.

Suranga Lakmal was impressive, he took 2 wickets for 37 runs in 8.0 overs, Prasanna took 1 wicket for 49 in 7.5 overs and Maharoof took 1 for 23 in 7.0 overs.

Pakistan will now face India on March 18 and Sri Lanka will face Bangladesh on March 20.

Result: Pakistan won by 6 wickets.

Man Of The Match: Aizaz Cheema (Pakistan).