Pakistan cruise into semi finals

Pakistan cruised into the semi finals of the T20 Cricket World Cup when they beat lowly rated Bangladesh by five wickets in their Super 12 match at the Adelaide Oval yesterday after restricting the opposition to 127 for 8.

For Bangladesh it was just a one-man show in opener Najmul Shanto standing up to the Pakistani bowlers with a top of 54 in 48 balls with seven fours while the rest had no idea including the now over-rated Shakib Al Hasan who was dismissed for a first ball duck against a ball from spinner Shadab Khan.

Any hopes Bangladesh would have had of staging a comeback were dashed by the fiery paceman Shaheen Shah Afridi who captured four wickets for 22 runs off his four overs.

Pakistan had no worry chasing down the target and got there in 18.1 overs with openers Barbar Azam (25) and Mohammad Azam (32) setting the course with a stand of 57 for the first wicket.

Scores:

Bangladesh 127 for 8 in 20 overs (Najmul Shanto 54, Afif Hossain 24, Soumya Sarkar 20, Shaheen Shah Afridi 4 for 22, Shadab Khan 2 for 30)

Pakistan 128 for 5 in 18.1 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 32, Barbar Azam 25, Mohammad Haris 31, Shan Masood 24 not out)