Bangladesh defeated Pakistan by 11 runs in the third and final ODI to win their second consecutive series in the format against them. Both teams played superbly as the crowd at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka witnessed a thriller with Pakistan coming back from the dumps and almost chasing down the target of 291 runs. Salman Ali Agha was the reason for that as he scored a century. But the hosts prevailed in the thriller in the end, even as Pakistan skipper Shaheen Afridi’s efforts also went in vain. With this loss, Pakistan continue to wait to register their first ODI series win in Bangladesh even after 15 years.
Earlier, Pakistan opted to bowl first but were soon left to regret their decision as Bangladesh started superbly. Bangladesh openers, Saif Hassan and Tanzid Hasan Tamim, stitched a century partnership for the first wicket and it took 18.1 overs for Pakistan to break the stand. The domination continued from the home team as Tanzid continued to play some exquisite strokes.
Najmul Hossain Shanto was dismissed for 27, but Tanzid kept the scoreboard ticking and notched up his maiden ODI century with a six. He smacked seven sixes during his innings to break Soumya Sarkar’s 11-year-old record and become the Bangladesh player to hit the most sixes in an ODI innings against Pakistan.
The run-scoring went down for a brief period after Tanzid’s dismissal but Litton Das and Towhid Hridoy batted smartly in the death overs to make sure Bangladesh didn’t collapse. The partnership between them ensured Bangladesh posted 290 runs on the board in their 50 overs, setting a challenging target for the visitors in the decider.
Pakistan left reeling early in the chase but Agha played a heroic knock
The chase didn’t start well for Pakistan at all as Nahid Rana and Taskin Ahmed left them reeling at 17/3 inside three overs. Ghazi Ghori and Abdul Samad stitched a brief partnership of 50 runs but both of them were back in the pavilion within 20 minutes to leave the visitors struggling at 82/5.
At this stage, a Bangladesh victory looked certain by a big margin. But Salman Ali Agha and Saad Masood had other ideas as the duo kept the team in the hunt with a 79-run partnership. Among them, Agha was particularly aggressive as he calculated the chase well. He churned out boundaries at the right time, showcasing his experience and even though wickets kept falling, his innings kept Pakistan alive in the game.
Pakistan once again looked lost at 209/7 despite Agha being there in the middle. But Shaheen Afridi decided to hang around in the middle and the visitors found their voice yet again. When they needed 45 runs off 30 deliveries, Pakistan seemed to be a bit ahead in the game as well but Agha’s wicket in the 48th over proved to be the turning point.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s ploy to bowl out Taskin in that over paid dividends and he removed the big fish. However, Shaheen was still in the middle and he brought the equation down to 14 runs in the final over. Well, Rishad Hossain kept his nerves in the final over to deliver his variations sueprbly and defended the total to help his side win by 11 runs.
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