Skipper Anamul Haque (128) slammed his second ton of the tournament to steer Bangladesh to a five-wicket win against Pakistan and restore some pride by securing seventh place in the ICC U-19 World Cup in Australia on Friday.
The junior Tigers restricted their rivals to a modest total of 235 runs in Townsville and knocked off the target in 46.2 overs making 239 for the loss of five wickets.
Soumya Sarkar (10) got out early, but in-form batsmen Liton Das and Anamul made the difference in the match as the duo added 179 runs for the second wicket which made the win look very easy.
Liton, who scored 102 in their previous match against England, maintained his good form as he supported Anamul with a steady 98-ball 53.
Anamul, on the other hand, played in his usual attacking style as he clobbered eight sixes and five fours in his 112-ball knock which ended when they were 19 runs away from victory.
The wicketkeeper-batsman, with this innings, the first player to score two centuries in the tournament and with a fifty to his name, Anamul became the competition’s leading run-scorer with 365 runs from six matches.
However, the partnership was broken on 198 runs when Liton was bowled by Ehsan Adil and Anamul too departed soon. A couple of wickets fell cheaply after Anamul’s departure, but Asif Ahmed (12) and Nurul Hasan (eight) made sure they didn’t lose any more wickets and led them to victory.
Earlier, Dewan Sabbir picked up two quick wickets and pushed Pakistan to the back-foot after Bangladesh had decided to field.
After being reduced to 118-6, Pakistan innings was repaired by Mohammad Newaz (82), Shahid Ilyas (44) and Faraz Ali (43).
Pace bowler Taskin Ahmed took three wickets but was very expensive in the process as he gave away 80 runs in his 10 overs. Sabbir and Al Amin claimed two wickets each.
-With New Age input
