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Today Pakistan is playing against Bangladesh in the final of Asia Cup. Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field. Bangladesh have bowled first in the whole tournament and haven't let the opposition get to large totals. Muhammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed opened for Pakistan. Nazmul Hossain bowled 1st over of the match and conceded 10 runs. Nasir Jamshed played two beautiful strokes towards the boundary for 4s. Mashrafe Mortaza bowled the 2nd over and conceded 4 runs. By the end of 3rd over Pakistan was 16/0. 4th over was a maiden by Nazmul Hossain. Mashrafe Mortaza bowled to Nasir Jamshed who tried to make room and tried to clear the in-field on the off side but found cover where Mahmudullah took the catch comfortably. At the end of 5th over Pakistan was 19/1. Yunas Khan came one down, he didn't looked very comfortable. He was sent back to the pavilion when Nazmul Hossain lbw him on his second bowl of the sixth over.
Pakistan batting side looked very shaky. By the end of 6th over score was 22/2. Misbah ul Haq came to bat. What will be Pakistani supportors praying for??? Abdur Razzak and Shahadat Hossain bowled a few overs and kept the Pakistani batsmen under pressure. On the 5th bowl of the 15th over, Misbah was run out by Nasir Hossain. Misbah took off and then hesitated, Nasir ran in from point, picked it up and aimed accurately at the non-striker's end. Misbah was quite short of the crease. So Pakistan lost another wicket and is now 55/3 at the end of 15th over.
Umar Akmal came in to bat. In 22nd over Abdur Razzak bowled to Hafeez, which he tried to strike but was caught by Nazmul Hossain. A maiden over with a wicket. Brilliant by Bangladeshi bowler. Pakistan was 70/4 and looked very fragile. Hammad Azam came to bat and worked hard to get few runs. At the end of 25th over Pakistan was 84/4 with Hammad Azam on 7 and Umar Akmal on 9. Pakistan crossed 100 runs in 29th over. In the 30th over Umar Akmal hit a SIX. Umar Akmal saw the long hop and made up his mind, waited for it to turn away and then pulled it handsomely over the deep midwicket boundary. Hammad Azam played a beautiful shot for FOUR runs in the very next over. By the end of 31st over Pakistan was 117/4 with Hammad Azam on 24 and Umar Akmal on 25. This partnership is working for Pakistan. But not for long, Hammad Azam is bowled and caught by Shakib Al Hasan. He goes for 30. Pakistan batting line in serious trouble with 129/5. Shahid Afridi comes in. Can he get Pakistan out of this troubled situation? This could be a match to show his talent to the waiting supporters of Pakistan. Problems for Pakistan keep on rising, Umar Akmal was given caught behind by umpire Steve Davis even though it didn't look like there was any bat involved.
Pakistan was now 133/6. Sarfraz Ahmed came to bat at number 8. By the end of 37th over, Shahid Afridi was batting at 16 and Sarfraz Ahmad was at 2. Shahid Afridi hits a FOUR on the last bowl of the 38th over. 39th over was a good one for Pakistan, Shahid Afridi hitting the last bowl of the over for a SIX.
A total of 11 runs were conceded in the over. Sarfraz Ahmad was on strike for the next over but couldn't take any runs. Shakib Al Hasan bowled beautifully and delivered a maiden over. Sarfraz is struggling with the bat, scored only 6 runs for 21. Afridi is on 32 for 21. On the 3rd bowl of 41st over, Shahid Afridi hit the ball high and was caught by Nasir Hossain. He is gone for 32 and Pakistan is now 178/7. Umar Gul came in to bat next. Sarfraz flicked the 1st bowl of 43rd over for a FOUR and got another FOUR in the over with a thick inside edge. A good over for Pakistan, 11 runs of it. In the 45th over, Umar Gul was caught by Shakib Al Hasan on the bowl of Mashrafe Mortaza. Saeed Ajmal came next to bat. Pakistan was 200/8 in the 45th over. Abdur Razzak crashed the wickets of Saeed Ajmal on the last bowl of 46th over. Aizaz Cheema came in as the last man to bat. Pakistan batting line was very disappointing. We expected Pakistani team to perform in a much better way. They are a much senior team then their counterpart. Sarfraz Ahmad hit the last bowl of 47th over for a FOUR. He is now on 32. The last over of the innings, bowled by Shahadat Hossain was a good one for Pakistan with 19 runs off it. This was an expensive over with a couple of no balls and a free hit. Pakistan finished the innings for 236 runs for the loss of 9 wickets.
The scorecard for the match:
| Pakistan innings (50 overs maximum) | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |||
 | Mohammad Hafeez | c Nazmul Hossain b Abdur Razzak | 40 | 87 | 4 | 0 | 45.97 | |
| Nasir Jamshed | c Mahmudullah b Mashrafe Mortaza | 9 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 112.50 | |
| Younis Khan | lbw b Nazmul Hossain | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 | |
| Misbah-ul-Haq* | run out (Nasir Hossain) | 13 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 56.52 | |
| Umar Akmal | c †Mushfiqur Rahim b Mahmudullah | 30 | 45 | 0 | 1 | 66.66 | |
| Hammad Azam | c & b Shakib Al Hasan | 30 | 37 | 3 | 1 | 81.08 | |
| Shahid Afridi | c Nasir Hossain b Shakib Al Hasan | 32 | 22 | 4 | 1 | 145.45 | |
| Sarfraz Ahmed† | not out | 46 | 52 | 4 | 0 | 88.46 | ||
| Umar Gul | c Shakib Al Hasan b Mashrafe Mortaza | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 66.66 | |
| Saeed Ajmal | b Abdur Razzak | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 57.14 | |
| Aizaz Cheema | not out | 9 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 81.81 | ||
| Extras | (b 2, lb 8, w 4, nb 4) | 18 | ||||||
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| Total | (9 wickets; 50 overs) | 236 | (4.72 runs per over) | |||||
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |||
| Mashrafe Mortaza | 10 | 0 | 48 | 2 | 4.80 | (1w) | |
| Nazmul Hossain | 8 | 1 | 36 | 1 | 4.50 | ||
| Abdur Razzak | 10 | 3 | 26 | 2 | 2.60 | ||
| Shahadat Hossain | 9 | 0 | 63 | 0 | 7.00 | (3nb, 2w) | ||
| Shakib Al Hasan | 10 | 1 | 39 | 2 | 3.90 | (1w) | |
| Mahmudullah | 3 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 4.66 |
(Source: http://www.espncricinfo.com)
Can Pakistani bowlers save the day for the nation? We will be expecting a good performance from Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Aizaz Cheema.
