World Cup Highlights: Bangladesh shocks Pakistan in 1999 edition

Bangladesh seems to choose the biggest stage in the cricketing world to produce their best performances. Much before they beat India in the 2007 World Cup - a result that led to Indian fans stoning the houses of India’s players – Bangladesh produced a dramatic performance in their first World Cup to beat Pakistan in the 1999 edition. Though the result did not affect Pakistan’s path to the final of the tournament (or help Bangladesh into the Super Six), it remains one of the more surprising results in the World Cup and helped Bangaldesh earn Test status in 2000. Bangladesh made a brisk start in Northampton that day, losing their first wicket after putting up 69 runs on the board in 15.3 overs. Pakistan’s Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq were surprisingly wasteful, bowling eight and six wides respectively as the bowling unit gave away 40 extras. [caption id=“attachment_2080629” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Khaled Mahmud of Bangladesh takes the wicket of Inzamam-Ul-Haq. Getty Images[/caption] What was telling about the match though is that none of the Bangladeshi batsmen did exceptionally well. Their top-scorer was Akram Khan with 42 from 66 balls and the team didn’t score a single six on their way to a total of 223 runs. Minhajul Abedin (100.00) had the highest strike-rate among all the batsmen – scoring 14 runs from 14 balls. Even the tail failed — but every player in the middle order chipped in with a few handy runs to give the minnows a sniff in the game. Pakistan’s batting was as woeful as their bowling that day. The first five batsmen scored just 23 runs among them — and these consisted of stalwarts Shahid Afridi, Saeed Nawar, Ijaz Ahmed, Saleem Malik and Inzamam-ul-Haq. Khaled Mahmud was responsible for three of those wickets and finished the match with 3/31 in 10 overs. Bangladesh were smelling blood by now — but the task was not done. Azhar Mahmood and Wasim Akram made up for their profligate bowling by scoring 29 runs each. Moin Khan and Saqlain Mushtaq also tried their luck — scoring 21 and 18 respectively but the former was out at a crucial juncture, leaving Pakistan at 124-8. With the run-rate climbing constantly thanks to the incredibly tight bowling of Naimur Rehman and Mohammad Rafique — Pakistan finally crumbled 62 runs short with five-and-a-half overs remaining. Mehmud took the man of the match award for a fiery spell under which Pakistan’s famed top order wilted. However, the famous win came too late for Bangladesh — this was the last of the Group stage and Pakistan were already guaranteed entry into the Super Six.