Twitter Reactions: Afridi and Imam spoil Mashrafe Mortaza’s World Cup swansong

The match between Pakistan and Bangladesh at the Lord’s was Mashrafe Mortaza’s last outing in the World Cup. However, the Tigers couldn’t make it memorable and lost the encounter by 94 runs. From a personal viewpoint, Mashrafe hit a couple of sixes and returned wicketless. In the meantime, the semi-finalists of the mega event- Australia, India, New Zealand and England- have been decided.

With a humongous task ahead of them, Pakistan opted to bat first, which wasn’t surprising. Mehidy Hasan Miraz didn’t allow the openers- Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq to get away. Mohammad Saifuddin nipped out Fakhar, who mistimed a cut shot to point. Thereafter, Imam (100) and Babar Azam (96) took the innings forward with a stand of 157 runs. Saifuddin trapped Babar to separate the duo.

But Imam went on and notched his seventh ODI to off 99 deliveries. Unfortunately, very soon he stepped on to the stumps and gave Mustafizur Rahman his maiden scalp. In the death overs, Imad Wasim (43) threw his bat around and took Pakistan to a formidable score of 315 in 50 overs. In the meantime, Mustafizur picked up a consecutive five-wicket haul, though he conceded as many as 75 runs in his quota.

Afridi brushes Bangladesh away

Pakistan officially got knocked out when the Tigers reached eight runs. Tamim Iqbal was cleaned up by Shaheen Shah Afridi after a pain-staking 21-ball eight. Soumya Sarkar (22) got a lifeline, being dropped by Haris Sohail, but Mohammad Amir got him. Mushfiqur Rahim (16) chopped one on to the stumps off Wahab Riaz. The onus was then on Shakib Al Hasan (64) and Liton Das (32) to build momentum.

The duo added 58 runs after which Liton spooned one in the air to give Shaheen his second wicket. Shakib brought up another fifty off 62 balls. Afridi found his outside edge in the 33rd over to jolt the Tigers. Afridi cleaned up Mahmudullah (29) with a yorker and then dismissed Saifuddin to became the youngest bowler to claim a World Cup fifer. He nipped out Mustafizur to end with a six-wicket haul.

Here is how Twitter reacted to Pakistan’s last win in the tournament: