Dambulla, June 21 (IANS) Shahid Afridi blasted his second century of the tournament as Pakistan crushed Bangladesh by 139 runs in an inconsequential Asia Cup match here Monday.
Riding on skipper Afridi’s 124 of 60 balls that included 17 fours and four sixes, Pakistan raised a mamoth 385 for seven in 50 overs, before restricting Bangladesh to 246 for five.
The Bangladesh chase never really took off as they looked more intent to play the full qouta of overs rather then going for the victory.
Openers Tamim Iqbal (34) and Imrul Kayes (66) did not take any risk with Shoaib Akhtar (1-22) working up a good pace.
Junaid Siddique (97) was the top scorer for Bangladesh, and would be disappointed to miss his century. He struck six fours and two sixes before falling to Akhtar.
It was only a consolation win for Pakistan, who are already out of the tournament losing close matches to Sri Lanka and India, the two teams who will fight for the title.
Bangladesh would be disappointed with their performance as they finished the tournament, losing all their three matches.
Pakistan decided to test its bench strength in the match making four changes in the line-up and were not disappointed as they piled up their highest ODI total, going past the 371 against Sri Lanka.
After electing to bat, Pakistan got off to a good start with openers Imran Farhat (66) and Shahzaib Hasan (50), who replaced Salman Butt, laying the foundation. They struck 81 runs in 12.3 overs before Abdur Razzaq trapped Hasan leg before wicket.
Farhat and Umar Amin (22) then added 54 runs before Bangaldesh made a brief revival with three quick wickets.
Amin was run out while Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan bowled Farhat and got Asad Shafiq (17) stumped to leave Pakistan at 176 for four. Afridi then cut loose with a hurricane knock.
The Pakistani captain started slowly before lofting Suhrawadi Shuvo over long on for a six.
Afrdi got a life when Mashrafe Mortaza dropped a skier and on another occasion when an inside edge missed the stumps.
After that, Afridi was in full flow, making mincemeat of the Bangladeshi attack.
The captaincy seemed to have rubbed Afrdi the right way – he had scored 109 against Sri Lanka in the first match.
He got good support from Umar Akmal, who hit 50 off 57 balls with four boundaries, with the two adding 138 runs at a furious pace.
Afridi has now hit the most sixes (272) in ODIs, going past Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya.
