Pakistan kept their chances for a semifinal berth alive after thrashing Bangladesh by 7 wickets at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, on Tuesday.

Fakhar Zaman and Abdullah Shafique’s opening stand helped Pakistan reach the 205 runs chase from just 32.3 overs. Bangladesh's Mehidy Hasan Miraj then picked Shafique's wicket at 68 off 69 balls. He removed Babar Azam for 9 off 16 and Fakhar Zaman for 81 off 74 balls in the following over. Zaman achieved the player of the match award. Meanwhile, Mohammad Rizwan also made an unbeaten 26 off 21 balls and finished up proceedings with plenty of overs to spare.

Earlier, Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi took three wickets and rocked the Bangladesh batters. Mohammad Wasim Jr also picked the same number of wickets and bundled Bangladesh, who opted to bat first, for 204 in 45.1 overs.

Meanwhile, Haris Rauf returned with two scalps and spinners Iftikhar Ahmed and Usama Mir swiped a wicket each.

Litton Das, Mahmudullah and skipper Shakib Al Hassan have chipped in with 45, 56 and 43 runs respectively but could not help in taking Bangladesh to a respectable total.

Bangladesh lost six games on the trot after winning their opening game and are out of the competition. Contrarily Pakistan showed off a clinical performance after four straight losses and are still in the competition with 6 points.