Pakistan’s World Cup semifinal hopes over despite Bangladesh win as New Zealand progress

Pakistan's Shaheen Afridi celebrates taking the wicket of Bangladesh's Mahmudullah with teammates. (Action Images via Reuters)
Updated 05 July 2019
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Pakistan’s World Cup semifinal hopes over despite Bangladesh win as New Zealand progress

LONDON: Pakistan thumped Bangladesh by 94 runs in their last World Cup group match on Friday but suffered a painful exit as New Zealand pipped them to a semifinal place on net run-rate.
Sarfaraz Ahmed’s team needed to smash the world record for margin of victory in a one-day international but a miracle win never looked remotely likely at a sun-drenched Lord’s.
Pakistan’s total of 315 for nine meant Bangladesh needed only eight runs to end the 1992 world champions’ hopes of advancing to the semifinals.
Teenager Shaheen Afridi returned the best-ever figures for Pakistan at a World Cup of 6-35 as they finished level on 11 points and games won (five) with fourth-placed New Zealand, missing out on the top four due to their inferior run-rate.
The other teams in next week’s semifinals are Australia, India and hosts England, with the final group matches taking place on Saturday.
Pakistan finished the tournament with four straight wins but ultimately paid the price for a sluggish start.
“Unfortunately we played very good cricket in the last four matches but we have not qualified,” said Sarfaraz.
“Only the one match will cost us in the whole tournament (against West Indies). We played very good cricket.”
Pakistan, backed by thousands of passionate flag-waving fans in London, started curiously slowly, crawling to 38-1 after 10 overs.
Imam-ul-Haq (100) and Babar Azam (96) eventually stepped on the gas, reaching their 150 partnership for the second wicket off 146 balls but both fell in quick succession to suck the momentum out of their innings.
A late flourish from Imad Wasim, who scored 43 runs from 26 balls, boosted the score but Pakistan lacked the muscle to put themselves out of sight.
Mustafizur Rahman took five wickets for Bangladesh, including a superb caught and bowled to dismiss Shadab Khan.
In reply, Shakib Al Hasan (64) scored his seventh fifty of the World Cup to shoot to the top of the tournament’s run-scoring charts, with 606 runs at an average of more than 86.
His seven scores of fifty-plus equal the record set by India’s Sachin Tendulkar at the 2003 tournament.
But Bangladesh lost wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out for 221 in the 45th over, with man-of-the-match Shaheen doing most of the damage with his left-arm seam.
Pakistan paid a heavy price for a slow start to their World Cup campaign, winning just one of their first five matches.
They were shot out for a paltry 105 in their first match, with the West Indies winning in just 13.4 overs, meaning they took a huge hit on run rate.
They came back strongly to beat South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan to sit fifth in the 10-team table, but in the end left themselves too much to do.
Bangladesh ended the 10-team group phase in seventh spot with three wins in their nine matches.
Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza said: “We feel very sorry for Shakib that we couldn’t support him all through the tournament, otherwise things could have been very different. He has been fantastic.”


Real Madrid lose second straight and miss chance to close gap on Liga leader Barcelona

Updated 03 March 2026
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Real Madrid lose second straight and miss chance to close gap on Liga leader Barcelona

  • Getafe held on to secure a historic win, its first at the Santiago Bernabeu since 2008, and a vital three points in its bid to stay in La Liga

MADRID: Real Madrid lost a second straight La Liga match when a stunning volley from Martín Satriano gave Getafe a shock 1-0 win at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Monday.
The result prevented the capital club from cutting the four-point gap to leader Barcelona.
Getafe had lost all eight of its previous league encounters with Real Madrid and early saves from goalkeeper David Soria kept it from falling behind.
Soria turned over a shot from Arda Güler midway through the first half, not long after frustrating Vinicius Junior when he was through on goal.
Madrid had more of the ball but lacked punch up front and it paid a price for its profligacy six minutes before halftime when Getafe took the lead.
A hopeful cross from the right was headed clear but it fell to the feet of Satriano, who volleyed into the roof of the net from 20 meters out.
It was the second goal in three games for the Uruguayan, who joined on loan from Lyon during the last transfer window.
Madrid continued to dominate possession in the second half and Antonio Rüdiger and substitute Rodrygo were among those who came close to grabbing an equalizer.
But it could not find a way past Getafe’s stuffy rearguard and an in-form Soria.
Madrid’s task became even harder when Franco Mastantuono was sent off for dissent in stoppage time and although the numbers were evened up in the last minute when Getafe’s Adrian Liso was also shown a red card it came too late to make any impact.
Getafe held on to secure a historic win, its first at the Santiago Bernabeu since 2008, and a vital three points in its bid to stay in La Liga.
“Coming here is always very difficult,” Getafe defender Kiko Femenía told broadcaster DAZN. “We have to congratulate the team, we did a superb job at the back and we scored when had the chance. We might even have scored more on the counterattack.”
They jumped three league places into 11th and were eight points above the relegation zone.