Late flourish by Fahim Ashraf sees Pakistan get past Bangladesh’s 341

LONDON Pakistan rode on brilliant batting performances from Shoaib Malik and Fahim Ashraf to beat Bangladesh by 2 wickets in their ICC Champions Trophy warm-up encounter in Birmingham on Saturday.

Shoaib Malik (72 off 66 balls) provided the perfect foundation for the run chase and Fahir Ashraf scored an unbeaten 64 off just 41 balls to clinch the match for Pakistan.

Earlier, powered by a scintillating century from opener Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh posted 341/9 in 50 overs .Opting to bat, Bangladesh took off well with Tamim and Soumya Sarkar.

Thereon, Tamim struck a fantastic 142-run partnership with Imrul Kayes (61) to give Bangladesh the platform to put up a big total. Both Kayes and Tamim scored at runa-a-ball with Kayes striking eight boundaries in his 62-ball knock.

Tamim had decided that he will play the anchor’s role and kept rotating the strike. But once Kayes got out, the left-hander upped the ante to hammer the Pakistani bowlers all over the ground.

Tamim ended up hitting nine boundaries and four massive sixes for his 93-ball 102 before getting out in the 34th over.

The Bangladeshi middle-order, however, did not lose the momentum with wicketkeeperbatsman Mushfiqur Rahim (46), all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan (23), Mahmudullah (29) and Mossadek Hossain (26) chipping in with valuable contributions which took the Bangladeshi total close to the 350-run mark.