Daily Times

LONDON: Pakistan will be on a mission impossible for a semifinal slot when they take on Bangladesh in their final World Cup group fixture at Lord’s here on Friday (today). Pakistan, fifth in the table behind New Zealand who occupy the fourth and final knockout berth, have to bat first against Bangladesh and win by a margin of at least 316 runs to leapfrog the Kiwis on net run rate. “It is very difficult, 316 runs is a big margin. Only if you’re batting first, if you score 600 runs or 500 runs,” skipper Sarfraz Ahmed told reporters on Thursday. “I don’t know what the study is behind this, but I can’t do anything… definitely, we’re interested in finishing on a high note. So we will try our best in tomorrow’s match.” Pakistan will also be playing for pride, having been beaten by their South Asian rivals in the last four meetings going back to 2015. “If you talk about the previous matches, yes, Pakistan lost four, but it is a World Cup match. Both teams look stronger, so hopefully we will do well as a team. e’re just interested in finishing the tournament on a high note and doing our best against Bangladesh,” added Sarfraz.

This is only the second meeting between these sides in World Cup history — 20 years on from their first encounter. On that day in Northampton, Bangladesh, who were playing at the tournament for the first time, pulled off a massive shock as Khaled Mahmud’s bowling secured a 62-run victory. After that game Pakistan went on a 25-match winning streak, lasting 15 years, against their Asian rivals. However, Bangladesh have won their four encounters heading into the latest showdown at Lord’s. Bangladesh are making their ODI debut at Lord’s but Pakistan have a proud record at the ‘Home of Cricket’ — winning three of their last four matches at the ground, including a 49-run triumph over South Africa earlier in the tournament.

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur urged his top order to go big — admitting some frustration that Babar Azam’s 101 against New Zealand is their only century this tournament. “They are getting in and scoring but we’d like them to push on a little bit because once your top order gets in, it’s so important to go on and get a century,” he said. “Those guys need to push on because a big score is just around the corner.”

Arthur admits an opening match defeat by the West Indies at Trent Bridge remains his biggest regret, in addition to letting a strong position slip against Australia at Taunton. “We got ourselves into a position to win against Australia and didn’t and against India we were outplayed but since then we’ve played very, very good cricket,” he said. “If we had to go back the thing that really haunts me is the loss to the West Indies, it was a game right at the start of the tournament where we should have come in firing and we didn’t.”

Meanwhile, Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes said his team were desperate to seal another victory over the 1992 champions in what will be skipper Mashrafe Mortaza’s final World Cup game. “Bangladesh versus Pakistan at the beautiful Lord’s, there’s no such thing as a dead rubber. Both teams are desperate to beat each other. We certainly are,” he said. “I often use the word warrior, but he (Mortaza) goes to war for the team and people respect that, understand that, and they love him because of that. “The players in the dressing room do love Mash. He has said it’s his last World Cup and it’ll be emotional for him.”