CHRISTCHURCH – Pakistani openers, Mohammad Rizwan and skipper Babar Azam showed A-game as Pakistan beat Bangladesh by seven wickets in a thrilling penultimate game of the Tri-series, here Thursday.
The openers laid the strong foundation for Team Green with a centurion opening stand to put the squad in a forceful position. They scored 101 off 76 deliveries and Pakistan chased the target in 19.5 overs with seven wickets in hand.
The skipper compiles 29th T20I fifty 👏
Pakistan bring up the 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ inside 12 overs 🏏#PAKvBAN | #NZTriSeries pic.twitter.com/LcU3nN240x
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 13, 2022
Mohammad Nawaz also played a fantastic knock as he struck five boundaries and a sixer to power Pakistan. He ended with a boundary in the last over and remained unbeaten.
Earlier, Bangladesh had a miserable start to their innings as opener Soumya Sarkar returned early. Bangladesh’s captain Shakib Al Hasan and vice-captain Litton Das scored half-tons as they survived the Pakistani bowling attack and registered an 88-run partnership.
Shakib then picked pace with Das as they moved the scoreboard at an impressive speed in the middle overs and advanced the total to 129 in the 15th over before the latter was removed by Nawaz.
Pakistani side, despite getting a huge target, made a comeback before the end and got three wickets in the last two overs. For Team Green, Naseem Shah and Wasim bagged two wickets each while Nawaz got one scalp.
The babar-led squad has won two out of three games previously in the tri-series while Bangladesh suffered defeat in all three fixtures.
Squads
Pakistan: Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Haider Ali, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain
Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto, Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib al Hasan (C), Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Yasir Ali, Mohammad Saifuddin,Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam
