Pakistan beats Bangladesh by 21 runs at Asia Cup

E-Paper | June 15, 2026

Bangladeshi cricketer Shakib Al Hasan is bowled by Pakistan's Umar Gul during the one day international (ODI) Asia Cup cricket match between Bangladesh and Pakistan at The Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka. -AFP Photo

DHAKA: Umar Gul took three wickets with Mohamamd Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi claiming two each as Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 21 runs in the opening match of the limited-overs Asia Cup tournament on Sunday.

Chasing a target of 263, Bangladesh was dismissed for 241 with 11 balls to spare, with Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan contributing 64 each.

Nasir Hossain scored 47 in a sixth-wicket stand of 89 with Shakib. In Pakistan's innings, opener Mohammad Hafeez scored 89, Nasir Jamshed made 54 and Gul added 39. Gul finished with bowling figures of 3-58.

Pakistan's victory was far from straightforward as Bangladesh was just 39 runs away when Nasir was bowled by Gul with four wickets intact. After Bangladesh was reduced to 135-5, Nasir and Shakib steadied the innings and helped the team reach 224 before losing Nasir.

Bangladesh lost the remaining four wickets for just 17 runs in a hard-fought battle.

Shakib was the last man to go, dismissed by Gul, as he appeared frustrated to watch so many partners fail to make a stand and attempt to win the game. Shahadat Hossain was unbeaten for no runs.

Earlier, Pakistan was cruising at 135-1 in the 28th over but was reduced to 198-7 by the 42nd over in the face of tight bowling by Shahadat Hossain (3-53) and Shakib (2-41).

Tailender Gul faced only 25 balls in his aggressive innings to help a struggling Pakistan reach 251-8. Sarfraz Ahmed was not out for 19 while Saeed Ajmal was unbeaten on eight at the end.

The 11th edition of the Asia Cup also involves India and Sri Lanka. India has won the competition five times while Sri Lanka won it four times. Pakistan has won it once.

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Umair Khalid

Mar 11, 2012 05:18pm

Another pathetic selection by the coach and captain. They selected just 5 bowlers. They should have played Hamad Azam instead of Younis Khan or Asad shafiq so we could have 6 bowlers. Another bad performance by the Pakistani batsmen. They never learn from their mistakes. Younis Khan and Misbah should be dropped from one days. This team can't even make 300 runs against the minnow batting first. How will they make 300 runs against the top sides like India and Sri Lanka? How will they chase 300 runs against Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. Our team is just hopeless!

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AL Khan

Mar 11, 2012 08:40pm

It s time the new coach gets the bull by the horn and drop a few failures. Captain Misbah should not be playing one days and twenty 20. Hamad should be played as an alrounder. There is no place for Cheema in any form of games. Some new young fast bowlers should be brought in.

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nadeem

Mar 11, 2012 09:24pm

Some people unnecessary start criticizing. No team can win forever. By the way 262 is not a bad score

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Mar 11, 2012 11:13pm

I was also surprised to see only five bowlers, mistake of not selecting Hammad . I think Pakistan should continue with Asad Shafiq, he is a good timer of the ball and finding gaps. Asad Shafiq needs more time in settling so sending hime one down wil be a good idea so he has more time to settle.

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Rashid

Mar 11, 2012 11:40pm

Pakistan are hopeless at batting full stop . Did u see India a couple of weeks ago in Australia they had to make well over 300 in 40 overs to have a chance of making the cb final they did it in 37 overs .if pak had to chase more than 300 they would sh.t their pants . We only beat England cos their batting was worse than ours. Pcb is rotten to the core.

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Haider Kanji

Mar 11, 2012 11:41pm

Yes, it hurts to see Pakistan created unnecessary tension despite such a super start.AZAD SHAFIQUE is very good for test Cricket but not for ODI. Yunis Khan takes time to settle. Misbah has been playing very well in test, ODI and 20 20.You have some bad luck. I think I agree one extra bowler or rather all rounder is a must.

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Akram

Mar 11, 2012 11:47pm

it was great match too see, when played bangladesh , umar gul was truning point in both in bat and bowl

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Riaz

Mar 11, 2012 06:44pm

As is aid in walker blog..... Keep expectations low. The batting is extremely week...perhaps the weekest amongst test playing nations. The positive point is Pakistan still managed to beat England in the text matches... No mean feat. The bowlers ate our strength. Unless the batting improves we will loose this competition and upcoming ones. I think we need to identify mentally tough youngsters who have batting ability... So that the coach can work with for the future. The worrying thing is they do not seem to learn from mistakes! That said we must support who ever is playing. Constant chugging thebteam is not an answer.

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Jawaid Ekram

Mar 11, 2012 06:38pm

Umair we should celebrate the win. All that matter is that we won. Bangladesh is good team now and not a third rate team. Great Job by Pakistan team

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Arsalan Zaman

Mar 12, 2012 01:23am

Younis Khan must definitely be dropped and Hammad Azam must be brought in. Pakistan was actually a very improved fielding side and kudos to Bangladesh for coming close to chasing down a healthy total.

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Vaseem Siddiqi

Mar 12, 2012 04:29am

Even though TEAM PAKISTAN won I feel Bangladesh played better cricket today and it was their lack of experience of finishing a game off against top team which let them down. After such a good start TEAM PAKISTAN should have scored over 300 runs. One thing I cannot understand is the non flexibility of the batting order. Once the openers had put on over 130 runs partnership Afridi should have been promoted to number 3 to take advantage of batting power play. His wicket is worth the gamble as he will either get out or score quickly. Further, in place of Asad Shafiq I would include either Hammad Azam or Wahab Riaz in the XI as this would strengthen the bowling and give option of a sixth bowler to the team and neither are mugs with the bat. Personally I would play both Hammad Azam and Wahab Riaz in the XI instead of Shafiq and Cheema.

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Khalid

Mar 12, 2012 07:04am

What any coach can do with the pakistan team, if the batting line constantly put up a pathetic show. They always rely and have been winning only on the basis of good strong bowling talent. The test series they won against england was all due to bowling. The selectors need to make difficult dicisions and drop the so called experienced specialist bastmen. Misbah must never be part of one day or T20 team. We lost many a key matches because he is never able to get the 8 / 10 runs, and he just plays tuk tuk until the last two balls and then in an attempt to make the required small runs he normally gets out boweld. I agree with the other comments we never learn from our mistakes, Afridi is not a reliable batsman any longer and the new coach will not do any wonders we are hoping in a wishful thinking.

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S. Jamal

Mar 12, 2012 12:01pm

Younus should himself call it a day before he is shown the door. Misbah does'nt move his feet. We saw it in the last 20-20 against England. Looks like he has a "lakshman rekha" problem. He is no good for limited-overs cricket. Umer Akmal is in a habit of throwing his wicket cheaply. He is good but needs guidance.

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Usman

Mar 13, 2012 11:55am

when will we get rid of brand players who did something just once and know they are doing nothing... Afridi, Misbah, younas should b kick off to improve the quality.... give chance to youngsters.. we have a lot of talent in Pakistan...

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SANA

Mar 23, 2012 08:46am

we won cup and u won our hearts <3 !

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