Pakistan finished their ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 campaign, which had been full of ups and downs, with a win against Bangladesh by 94 runs. Riding on the back of Imam-ul-Haq’s hundred and Shaheen Afridi’s six-wicket haul at Lord’s, Pakistan registered a convincing win.
However, a 94 run win was not enough for Pakistan to help them reach the semi-finals.
Batting first, Pakistan put on 316 runs on the board, courtesy Imam-ul-Haq’s ton. Babar Azam missed out on his century after he departed for a well made 96.
Chasing a relatively tough ask against a threatening Pakistan attack, Bangladesh surrendered under pressure. Shaheen Afridi, the talented Pakistan teenage bowler, picked up six wickets and gave away only 35 runs in 9.1 overs.
Shaheen got the wickets of Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Liton Das, Mohammad Saifuddin and Mustafizur Rahman to register his name in the record books.
Record spell
Picking up a fifer for Pakistan in their last league match, he became the youngest bowler to have achieved a fifer in the history of the World Cup tournament. He also went on to break Shahid Afridi’s record for the best figures for a Pakistan bowler in the World Cup. Shahid Afridi had picked up five wickets for sixteen runs against Kenya in 2011.
Interestingly, Afridi was not a part of the Playing XI in the first few matches but had been in a tremendous form during the second half of the tournament.
Afridi finished the tournament with 16 wickets to his credit in the six matches he featured.
After a successful Under-19 World Cup where Afridi emerged Pakistan’s highest wicket-taker (12 wickets), the tall pacer was considered for a place in the national team. With less than a year of International experience, he was included in the 2019 World Cup squad.
Shaheen is perhaps one of the biggest positives for Pakistan from this World Cup. Given that he might go to play two-three world cups more, he could well be the next bowing sensation that Pakistan have a knack of producing.