Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina holds the trophy and poses with the Tigers for photos at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium yesterday after the Bangladesh cricket team had comprehensively beaten Pakistan in the only T20 match of Pakistan’s tour of Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh camp erupted with joy, as water was sprayed all around from the player’s bottles once Shakib Al Hasan hit the boundary through cover against Saeed Ajmal which ensured that Bangladesh would receive both the ODI and T20 trophies from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. After Zimbabwe and West Indies, Pakistan was the third full-member country against whom Bangladesh won a T20I. It seemed like a series where Bangladesh made it their objective to achieve one feat after another.
Fresh from a 3-0 ODI whitewash, the Mashrafe Bin Mortaza-led side put aside any talks of their weakness in the shortest format of the game and simply outclassed the formidable Pakistan side by seven wickets in the one-off T20I, courtesy of some superb bowling, followed by fireworks from the batsmen.
The bowlers, including 19-year-old debutant Mustafizur Rahman, handcuffed the Pakistanis and restricted them to 141 runs off their allotted overs. When it was time to bat, Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman toyed with the Pakistan bowlers, knocking them all over the field, and finished the match with clinical efficiency with 22 balls to spare.
In chase of a modest total, Tamim Iqbal began with a flurry of boundaries against Mohammad Hafeez, scoring 14 runs with the run-out of Soumya being the only blight in the first over. However, Pakistan bounced back and removed the left-hander in the third over, bringing out Mushfiqur Rahim, who gladly took charge along with Shakib.
The inform Mushfiqur’s dismissal for 19 runs saw Bangladesh reduced to 38 for three but
Sabbir — who was denied the chance of showing his mettle in the ODI series owing to superb performances from the top order, after initiating the first blow to Pakistan in the first practice match — joined Shakib to make the Pakistan attack look ordinary.
Shakib hit an unbeaten 57 off 41 balls with nine boundaries, while man-of-the match Sabbir smote seven fours and a six during his unbeaten 32-ball 51.
Earlier Mustafizur, a left-arm seamer from Satkhira, made an impressive start with good movement to tease the Pakistan batsmen. The spinners then tightened the screws in the middle overs, cancelling contributions from Mohammad Hafeez and Haris Sohail.
The opening pair of debutant Mukhtar Ahmed and Ahmed Shehzad could find any leeway against disciplined Bangladesh bowling. The pair added 50 runs in nine overs, leaving a tough task for the batsmen who followed to impose a challenging total. Pacer Taskin Ahmed made the inroad by removing Shehzad, but Mustafizur took the prized wicket of Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi — though he was lucky the decision went his way — and then trapped Hafeez in front to finish with figures of 4-0-20-2, giving away only five runs in his first two overs. Shakib didn’t get any wickets but was the most economical, with Pakistan squeezing only 17 runs in his four-over spell.
The brilliant Bangladesh bowling forced Pakistan to play 49 dot balls which killed any hopes they had of tasting their first win in the tour.
Poor records and a lack of matches in the newest format of the game did not deter Bangladesh from dismantling Pakistan and denying them any success, and when they fly for Khulna today to prepare for the Test series that begins on April 28, their hopes of a win will be flying right alongside them.
Source: The Daily Star
