Pakistan’s World Cup campaign has unraveled very quickly and in front of their eyes. From being early favourites of pundits, they now find themselves in a precarious position needing to ensure they win all of their remaining matches to find a place in the top four. Pakistan come up against Bangladesh, who have had a similarly dismal campaign winning just one match so far.
The 31st One Day International (ODI) match of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup 2023 will see the two Asian giants come up against each other at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday. The match is set to begin from 2 pm.
While Pakistan are on seventh on the points table, Bangladesh find themselves on ninth. Bangladesh are unlikely to move ahead into the semis, however, a win over hapless Pakistan will be in their sights.
Head To Head:
Pakistan and Bangladesh have played on 38 occasions in the ODI format so far with Pakistan holding all the bragging rights with 33 wins. Bangladesh have the other five wins. They last met in September 2023 during the Asia Cup, when Pakistan won by seven wickets.
In World Cups, Pakistan have played Bangladesh only twice with both teams sharing a win apiece. Shaheen Afridi took six wickets for 35 runs to destroy the Bangladesh batting order in the 2019 World Cup winning the match for Pakistan by 94 runs. For their share, Bangladesh had defeated Pakistan in one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history when they claimed a 62-run win in the 1999 World Cup. Khaled Mahmud had picked up the important wickets of Shahid Afridi, Inzamam-ul-Haq, and Saleem Malik to set up Bangladesh for the win.
Pitch Report:
The Eden Gardens in Kolkata has hosted 32 ODIs so far and is known as a batting paradise, especially in the middle overs. Crafted from black cotton soil, the pitch offers good bounce in the opening phases, but over time becomes conducive for spin.
Teams batting first have 18 wins out of the 32 matches, while the teams batting second have won 12 times. Two games at Eden Gardens did not produce any results. The toss-winning captain is likely to opt to bat first, as has been historically evident at this venue.
Weather Forecast:
The temperatures in Kolkata are expected to go as high as 32 degrees with humidity as high as 79 per cent. However, Weather.com has reported little chance of rainfall.
Match Prediction:
Google’s win probability hands Pakistan with a 75 per cent chance of beating Bangladesh in today’s encounter. Both CricTracker and MyKhel believe Pakistan will pick up the win, though the latter thinks it will be an “intriguing affair”. Babar’s boys should not find it too difficult to claim the two points, but the form they are in, Bangladesh will eye a result as well.
