KARACHI, July 4: Hosts Pakistan finished their campaign in the ninth Asia Cup on a high when they whipped the hapless Bangladesh by a crushing margin of 10 wickets in the inconsequential match of the Super-Four round at the National Stadium here on Friday.

Unlike the previous games in this tournament where the batsmen had their say, the bowlers dominated for a change with the pitch offering sideway movements. Mohammad Ashraful, probably taking note of the fact that most sides have generally batted after winning the toss, decided to bat first on a dull, overcast afternoon.

But Ashraful was ruing his judgement as Man-of-the-Match Abdur Rauf (3-24), Rao Iftikhar (2-20) and Saeed Ajmal (2-19) made life miserable for all the batsmen. The procession lasted three hours when Farhad Reza was stumped off a Saeed Ajmal doosra as the innings folded up for 115 – the lowest total in this tournament – inside 39 overs.

Left-handed opening duo of Salman Butt (56 off 62 balls, 10 boundaries) and Nasir Jamshed (52 off 56 balls, five fours and two sixes) required just 19.2 overs when Salman cut Farhad Reza to the backward point fence to register Pakistan’s first-ever 10-wicket victory in Asia Cup history.

The impressive Rauf produced a number of unplayable deliveries while never allowing the batsmen settle down. The second ball of the paceman’s opening over saw Nazimuddin playing a reckless pull without getting behind the line; the resultant thick top-edge was easily caught by Shoaib Malik, returning to lead the side after sitting out Wednesday’s game against India because of dehydration.

Tamim Iqbal, the top-scorer with 26 off 41 balls, and Ashraful survived as much as they could as they shared the only partnership of note – 41 runs – before the captain fended off an awkward delivery to gulley that climbed up. The previous ball was flat-batted for a six over backward square leg.

Raqibul Hasan went for a golden duck when hooked Sohail Tanvir straight into Rao Iftikhar’s lap at fine leg. Rauf pick up his third wicket in the very next when Tamim took his eyes off a well-directed bouncer to fend the ball to Younis Khan in the slips.

Alok Kapali (17 off 27 balls), Mushfiqur Rahim (15 off 37) and Mahmudullah (11 off 47) were the only other Bangladeshis to reach double figures apart from Tamim and Ashraful.

Rao Iftikhar could have easily picked up more wickets. But he still managed to equal Sarfraz Nawaz’s record of most number of maiden overs in a One-day International for Pakistan as he bowled six of them in a magnificent unchanged spell of 10 overs from the Pavillion End. Former paceman Sarfraz achieved the feat against England when sent down 11 overs at Old Trafford in 1978.

When Pakistan began their chase for the modest target before the dinner break, the match was as good as over. But still, Salman and Nasir had enough time to notch up their ninth and fourth half-centuries, respectively.

Bangladesh opted to field an unchanged eleven, while Pakistan, according to Malik, ‘rested’ the off-colour Shahid Afridi in the only change from the team that defeated India two days ago.

The victory on Friday was Pakistan’s seventh in succession against Bangladesh this year.

Scoreboard

BANGLADESH:

Tamim Iqbal c Younis b Rauf 26

Nazimuddin c Malik b Rauf 3

Mohammad Ashraful c Misbah b Rauf 14

Raqibul Hasan c Rao Iftikhar b Sohail 0

Mushfiqur Rahim run out 15

Alok Kapali c Younis b Rao Iftikhar 17

Mahmudullah c Misbah b Malik 11

Farhad Reza st Sarfraz b Saeed 3

Mashrafe Mortaza lbw b Rao Iftikhar 1

Abdur Razzak b Saeed 9

Shahadat Hossain not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-11, NB-1) 16

TOTAL (all out, 38.2 overs) 115

FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-47, 3-48, 4-49, 5-75, 6-92, 7-99, 8-100, 9-113.

BOWLING: Sohail Tanvir 7-0-31-1 (1nb); Abdur Rauf 8-1-24-3 (3w); Rao Iftikhar 10-6-20-2 (2w); Saeed Ajmal 8.2-0-19-2 (5w); Shoaib Malik 5-0-17-1 (1w).

PAKISTAN:

Salman Butt not out 56

Nasir Jamshed not out 52

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-4, W-3) 8

TOTAL (for no wkt, 19.4 overs) 116

DID NOT BAT: Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar, Abdur Rauf, Saeed Ajmal.

BOWLING: Mashrafe Mortaza 3-0-9-0 (1w); Shahadat Hossain 7-1-40-0 (1w); Abdur Razzak 7-0-42-0 (1w); Mahmudullah 2-0-15-0; Farhad Reza 0.4-0-5-0.

RESULT: Pakistan won by 10 wickets.

UMPIRES: I.J. Gould (England) and A.L. Hill (New Zealand).

TV UMPIRE: M.G. Silva (Sri Lanka).

MATCH REFEREE: A.G. Hurst (Australia).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Abdur Rauf.