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Young talents power Pakistan to a crushing victory over Bangladesh at Lord's

Babar Azam finishes as top tournament runscorer for Men in Green

Shaheen Afridi sealed Pakistan's victory with his sixth wicket
Shaheen Afridi sealed Pakistan's victory with his sixth wicketCredit: Jordan Mansfield

Pakistan's World Cup campaign ended with a comprehensive 94-run victory over Bangladesh at Lord's and the performances of some of their young talents bode well for the future.

Teenage paceman Shaheen Afridi routed the Tigers' lower-order batting to finish with 6-35 after 24-year-old Babar Azam (96) and 23-year-old Imam-ul-Haq (100) had steered Pakistan to a total of 315-9.

That score meant they needed to bowl out Bangladesh for just seven to overturn their net run-rate deficit with New Zealand and qualify for the semi-finals.

Unsurprisingly, that feat proved beyond Pakistan but they racked up a fifth win in seven completed matches since being bowled out for 105 by the West Indies in their opening game of the tournament.

Babar, 2-1 favourite to top-score for Pakistan at the World Cup, obliged comfortably and 4-1 chance Mohammad Amir pipped Afridi 17-16 in the race to be their top wicket-taker.

Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan signed off an outstanding campaign with an innings of 64 that took him back to the top of the tournament runscoring list.

Shakib had been 5-1 second-favourite to be the Tigers' top World Cup batsman and Mustafizur Rahman, who claimed his second five-wicket haul in a row, was their leading bowler at 3-1.

With the four semi-finalists confirmed, England are slight favourites to lift the trophy at 15-8 ahead of Australia (2-1), India (5-2) and New Zealand (9-1).

A win for Australia against South Africa on Saturday would secure their place at the top of the table. If the Aussies slip up then India would go top with a victory over Sri Lanka.

Third-placed England will play the team who finish second in the table in Thursday's semi-final at Edgbaston. New Zealand take on the winners of the league stage at Old Trafford on Tuesday.


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