Bangladesh slump to four-wicket defeat against Pakistan

A blistering 36-run stand between Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan guided Pakistan to a four-wicket win over Bangladesh in the opening T20 game to earn a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Pakistan required 32 runs off the last three overs when Nawaz (18 off 8 balls) and Shadab (21 off 10 balls) dug deep and clubbed four sixes and two boundaries to coast to the win with four balls to spare on Friday.

Chasing a modest 128 for the win, the T20 World Cup semifinalists suffered an early setback losing four wickets in the space of four overs to teeter at 24 for four after six overs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

Mustafizur Rahman (1-26) spearheaded Bangladesh’s defence of 127 for seven, taking out opener Mohammad Rizwan (11) with one that shaped in and went through the gates before skipper Babar Azam (7) played on to Taskin Ahmed (2-31) in the following over.

Mahedi Hasan (1-17) tossed one up to trap Haider Ali for a duck and as pressure mounted, Shoaib Malik ran himself out for a duck at the end of the powerplay.

Khushdil Shah (34) then put up resistance with Fakhar Zaman (34), stitching up 54 runs in the fifth wicket to bring the chase back on course.

Shah led the charge with three boundaries and a six while his partner cracked four boundaries as the home side grew wayward and, thus, punished.

Taskin earned Fakhar’s scalp with a short delivery to bring the breakthrough and two overs later, Shoriful Islam (1-31) pumped hope in Bangladeshi hearts with the dismissal of Shah.

Bangladesh could ill afford any mistake with a small total to defend, but Mustafizur Rahman’s 15-run last over shifted the momentum in Pakistan’s favour.

Earlier, Pakistani bowlers restricted Bangladesh to the modest total as the hosts’ batting woes continued after the showcase event in the UAE and Oman.

Choosing to bat first, the Tigers’ toporder was bundled out within the first five overs as Bangladesh tottered to 25 for three in the powerplay.

Opener Saif Hassan (1) failed to make an impact on debut when he fell to Mohammad Wasim (2-24) after Mohammad Naim departed in the second over to trigger an early collapse.

The T20 World Cup semifinalists’ seaming duo Nawaz (1-27) and Hasan Ali (3-22) maintained tight line and length at the outset, allowing little room for the batsmen to free their arms.

Afif Hossain, the home side’s topscorer with 36 runs, put up some resistance before Shadab took him out as Bangladesh slipped to 61 for five in the 13th over.

Nurul Hasan (28) and Mahedi (30) then clubbed four sixes between them and gave Bangladesh a much-needed late boost.

Adjudged Man of the Match, Hasan Ali said, “I would like thank Allah first of all. Obviously, it's a pleasant moment for me. My performance wasn't up to the mark in the World Cup but you have ups and downs in your career.

“I have been here during the BPL and I know it's generally a slow pitch. So I bowled stump to stump and got wickets.”

Mahmudullah later said, “I think when we chose to bat first, it looked a pretty good wicket to bat on but there was help for bowlers too. Hopefully, we can come up with a better plan tomorrow.

“It would have been better to get 140 but with 127, we thought if we could get a couple of wickets early on, which our bowlers did, Taskin, Fizz, Mahedi, we were very close but the credit goes to their last two batters.”

At the post-match ceremony, Babar said, “The wicket was a bit difficult, not easy to bat on. So the credit goes to our middle order - Fakhar, Khushdil and how Nawaz finished. We could have bowled them earlier, we ended up conceding 15-20 runs extra but that happens in cricket.”

The second game of the series is scheduled for Saturday. The three-game 20-over series will be followed by two Tests in their first bilateral clash since 2015.