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CHITTAGONG, Jan 22: Rashid Latif helped Pakistan bury a World Cup nightmare as they cruised to a 49-run win over Bangladesh on Tuesday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match limited-overs series.
Latif smashed a career-best 78 as Pakistan recovered from a horrific 88-5 in the morning session before being all out for 202 off the penultimate ball of the innings.
Pakistan then bowled well to restrict Bangladesh for 153-7 from their 50 overs in a keenly-fought encounter at the Aziz stadium.
Memories of the 62-run defeat against Bangladesh in the 1999 World Cup at Northampton appeared to return to haunt Pakistan, before Latif’s timely knock ensured there was no surprise result again.
After the doughty wicket-keeper had pulled his team out of dire straits, two wickets by fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar followed by two crucial run-outs stopped Bangladesh from surpassing the meagre target.
Captain Khaled Masud scored a defiant 54 not out, but his effort only managed to reduce the margin of defeat.
Latif’s 86-ball knock proved decisive, helping Pakistan recover from the shaky start after captain Waqar Younis won the toss and elected to bat.
Wickets fell at regular intervals till Latif and Abdur Razzaq (24) came together to add 80 for the sixth wicket.
Latif slammed nine boundaries during the knock, improving upon his previous best of 66 against Australia at Cardiff in the tri-series hosted by England last year.
For Bangladesh, young seamers Tareq Aziz and Mohammad Sharif claimed three wickets each. Aziz finished with 3-19 and Sharif claimed 3-41.
Aziz, an 18-year-old making his international debut on his home ground, struck in his very first over when he bowled opener Naved Latif with his fourth delivery.
The right-arm seamer forced star batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq to pull a catch to Sanwar Hossain at mid wicket and later dismissed Waqar Younis.
Playing a good support role, 17-year-old Sharif removed opener Shahid Afridi early in the day and also accounted for Latif and last man Shoaib Akhtar.
But poor batting dashed Bangladesh’s hopes of salvaging their pride after losing both Test matches inside three days.
Bangladesh, beaten 2-0 in the recenlty concluded Test series, have now lost 13 one-dayers in a row since beating Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup.
The remaining two matches are day/night fixtures in Dhaka Thursday and Friday.
PAKISTAN:
Shahid Afridi c K. Mashud b Sharif 7
Naveed Latif b Tareq 17
Yousuf Youhana c Tareq b Manjural 7
Inzamam-ul-Haq c Sanwar b Tareq 20
Younis Khan b Khaled Mahmud 22
Rashid Latif b Sharif 79
Abdur Razzaq c K. Mashud b Enamul 24
Azhar Mahmood c and b Enamul 1
Waqar Younis c Mehrab b Tareq 1
Saqlain Mushtaq not out 12
Shoaib Akhtar c K. Mashud b Sharif 3
EXTRAS (B-2, LB-2, W-4, NB-1) 9
TOTAL (all out, 49.5 overs) 202
FALL OF WKTS: 1-12, 2-27, 3-35, 4-67, 5-88, 6-168, 7-172, 8-175, 9-194.
BOWLING: Manjural Islam 10-3-43-1 (1w); Mohammad Sharif 9.5-1-40-3; Tareq Aziz Khan 10-1-19-3 (1w); Khaled Mahmud 10-0-50-1 (1w); Enamul Hoque 10-0-46-2 (1nb, 1w).
BANGLADESH:
Javed Omar c Saqlain b Shoaib 6
Mehrab Hossain b Shoaib 0
Mohammad Al-Shahriar run out 6
Tushar Imran c Inzamam b Saqlain 21
Sanwar Hossain c Azhar b A. Razzaq 2
Khaled Mahmud run out 5
Khaled Mashud not out 54
Enamul Hoque c Naved b Inzamam 32
Mohammad Sharif not out 0
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-9, W-10, NB-7) 27
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 153
FALL OF WKTS: 1-1, 2-14, 3-24, 4-32, 5-54, 6-68, 7-153.
DID NOT BAT: Manjural Islam, Tareq Aziz Khan.
BOWLING: Waqar Younis 10-2-33-0 (1w); Shoaib Akhtar 8-1-9-2 (2nb, 2w); Abdur Razzaq 6-1-10-1 (3w); Azhar Mahmood 6-0-26-0 (5nb, 1w); Saqlain Mushtaq 10-0-24-1; Shahid Afridi 7-0-28-0; Naved Latif 2-0-13-0 (3w); Inzamam-ul-Haq 1-1-0-1.
RESULT: Pakistan won by 49 runs.
UMPIRES: A.F.M. Akhtaruddin and Sailab Hossain.
TV UMPIRE: Manzur Rahman.
MATCH REFEREE: B.F. Hastings (New Zealand).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Rashid Latif.
NEXT MATCH: Dhaka (D/N), Friday.—AFP
