Pakistan vs Bangladesh, Asia Cup 2023, Super Four, Match 1: Stats Preview of Players' Records and Approaching Milestones

Pakistan and Bangladesh will face each other in the first match of the Super Four of Asia Cup 2023 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on September 6, 2023. Pakistan the host will be coming into the Super Four on the back of astonishing performances with both bat and ball in the first game, winning by a massive margin of 238 runs against Nepal while their second game against India was washed out due to rain. They were brilliant with the ball against India as all the pacers contributed to 10 wickets bowling out India for 266 inside 50 overs. 

Shaheen Afridi provided the early breakthrough by setting up Rohit Sharma with two outswingers and the third ball nipping in the stumps while he also picked the wicket of Virat Kohli by playing him on. Afridi ended his spell with 4/35 while both Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf picked three wickets each. In the batting department, Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed went berserk against Nepal with a 214-run stand for the fifth wicket, eventually scoring their respective centuries.

Pakistan will be looking to continue their dominance in the first super four games against Bangladesh and are the firm favourites to win the contest.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, will be heading into the super four on the back of one big loss and one big win. They were bowled out for 164 in the first game against the quality bowling attack of Sri Lanka, eventually losing the game by 5 wickets while they scored 334/5 in the second game against Afghanistan and bowled them out for 245, winning by a massive margin of 89 runs.

Najmul Hossain Shanto was the star for Bangladesh with the bat scoring 89 in the first game and a scintillating century in the second game. Mehidy Hasan Miraz too was phenomenal in the second game, scoring his second ODI hundred, He along with Shanto, stunned Afghan bowlers with an unbeaten 194 run-stand before getting retired hurt. In the bowling department, Taskin Ahmed has picked five wickets while his partner Shoriful Islam has picked four wickets in as many as two games.

Bangladesh though reached the super four in style will be worried as their star batter Shanto has been ruled out due to hamstring while their go-to batter Litton Das has joined the squad after recovering from his illness. Bangladesh will too look to continue their winning form going into the Super Four of Asia Cup 2023.

Meanwhile, let us look at the stats and approaching milestones from 1^st Match of the Super Four between Pakistan and Bangladesh:

Head-to-Head: In ODIs, both teams have met on 37 occasions and Pakistan clearly dominated the contest with 32 wins while Bangladesh were on the winning side on five occasions.

In Asia Cup ODIs, both have met 13 times with Pakistan winning 12 and Bangladesh winning only once.

5 – Babar Azam (45) needs five grabs to complete 50 catches in ODIs.

1 – Haris Rauf (49) is one scalp away from reaching 50 wickets in ODI cricket.

1 - Shadab Khan (199) requires one scalp to reach 200 wickets across formats.

154 – Fakhar Zaman (4846) needs 154 runs to complete 5000 runs in international cricket.

111 – Imam-ul-Haq (2889) needs 111 runs to complete 3000 runs in ODI cricket.

2 – Mustafizur Rahman (148) is two scalps away from reaching 150 wickets in the 50-over format

3 – Shakib Al Hasan (47) requires three sixes to complete 50 maximums in the ODI format.

2 – Shakib (21) requires two wickets to go past Abdur Razzak (22) and become the leading wicket-taker for Bangladesh in Asia Cups (ODI).

7 – Mushfiqur Rahim (93) needs seven sixes to reach 100 maximums in ODIs.

4 -Shakib Al Hasan (27) needs four wickets to become the leading wicket-taker by spinner in Asia Cup