Pakistan won the three-match Twenty20I series against Bangladesh by comfortably winning the second match here at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday.
Pakistan comfortably chased the 137-run target for loss of one wicket with 20 balls left. Mohammad Hafeez and Babar Azam partnership led the side to victory with a knock of 67 and 66, respectively. Pakistani skipper Babar Azam was declared Man of the Match.
Pakistan's victory have further consolidated the Team Pakistan chances of hanging on to its world number one ranking in the shortest format, which is in danger of being taken over by Australia.
The third and final match of the series is to be played at the same venue on Monday.
President of Pakista Arif Alvi and First Lady Samina Alvi also witnessed the match at the Gaddafi Stadium.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani received the distinguished guests at the stadium. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Chairman Nazam ul Hasan was also present.
President Alvi stayed at the stadium for short time and watched the latter half of the Bangladesh batting innings.
Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat first. The visitors made one change to their playing XI as Mahedi Hasan was included in place of Mohammad Mithun while Pakistan made no change to the winning side of first T20. Bangladesh managed to score 136 runs for the loss of six wickets in their limited quota of 20 overs. Tamim Iqbal remained top-scorer for Bangladesh with 65 off 53 before he was run out. Afif Hossain scored 21 off 20. Pakistan's Mohammad Hasnain dismissed two batsmen. Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf picked up a wicket apiece.
Pakistan's run-chase suffered an early setback when opener Ahsan Ali frustrated by his inability to get off the mark on six attempts, tried an ugly hock in the second over and was caught, prompting Mohammad Hafeez to walk in. Hafeez and captain Babar Azam made sure there were no further setbacks in the first five overs, at the end of which the score read 33-1.
The duo brought up their 50-stand in the 9th over and by the end of the 10th, Pakistan had 68 on the board and cruising towards a series win, barring a Bangladeshi miracle. From that point on, Bangladesh almost found no joy as they bowled bad lines, dropped catches and conceded runs far more frequently than they'd have liked.
Babar and Hafeez took full advantage of conditions, completing their fifties and getting their side home comfortably. The skipper Babar finished with a 44-ball 66 whereas his veteran partner contributed 67 runs off 49 deliveries.
Pakistan did not have to wait long for the first wicket of the visitor's. The breakthrough came in the second over when a fired-up Shaheen Shah Afridi had Mohammad Naim nick one back to the keeper Mohammad Rizwan.
Mohammad Hasnain certainly was liking the pitch opted on Saturday as he picked up his first wicket of the series, surprising Mahedi Hasan with extra bounce and getting him caught with a top edge. He could have added another, beating Tamim Iqbal with a beautiful inswinger, only for Rizwan to drop the inside edge. The loss of wickets meant that the runs did not flow. At the end of 5 overs, Bangladesh had a mere 27 on board for the loss of two wickets. Shadab Khan had Liton Das trapped in front of the wicket in a dismissal that was given out, seemed not out from the naked out, but was eventually ruled against the batsman even after the review. The ball would have nicked the leg stump by the smallest of margins.
At the end of 10, Bangladesh were 57-3 and clearly struggling for runs and any sort of rhythm. Their only hope was that Tamim Iqbal was still there. Tamim and young Afif Hossain formed a 45-run partnership but just when Bangladesh needed them to accelerate, Hasnain bowled an excellent 15th over and had the youngster caught at third man. With 5 overs left, the visitors were 88-4 and in need for a late push. That push came in the 16th over when Tamim went after Shadab, bleeding him for three boundaries and 14 runs. However, his 65-run innings came to an end in the 18th over courtesy some uncharacteristically quality fielding from Pakistan. Imad Wasim ran the batter out with a direct throw. In the end, some impressive death bowling meant that Bangladesh could only finish at 136-6 in their allotted 20 overs.
====================================== SCOREBOARD ====================================== BANGLADESH ====================================== T. Iqbal run out 65 M. Naim c Rizwan b Shaheen 0 M. Hasan c Rizwan b Hasnain 9 L. Das lbw b Shadab 8 A. Hossain c Rauf b Hasnain 21 Mahmudullah Riyad b Rauf 12 Soumya Sarkar not out 5 Aminul Islam not out 8 -------------------------------------- Extras: (lb 2, nb 1, w 5) 8 ====================================== Total: (six wkts; 20 overs) 136 ======================================
Did not bat: Shafiul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Naim), 2-22 (Mahedi), 3-41 (Das), 4-86 (Afif), 5-117 (Iqbal), 6-126 (Mahmudullah)
Bowling: Imad 2-0-16-0 (1w), Shaheen 4-0-22-1 (1w), Hasnain 4-0-20-2 (1w), Rauf 4-0-27-1 (2w), Shadab Khan 3-0-28-1, Malik 2-0-9-0, Iftikhar 1-0-12-0
====================================== PAKISTAN ====================================== B. Azam not out 66 A. Ali c Mahmudullah b Shafiul 0 M. Hafeez not out 67 -------------------------------------- Extras: (lb1, w3) 4 ====================================== Total: (for one wkt; 16.4 overs) 137 ======================================
Did not bat: Shoaib Malik, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Ahsan)
Bowling: Mahedi 4-0-28-0, Shafiul 3-0-27-0 (1w), Al-Amin 3-0-17-0 (1w), Rahman 3-0-29-0 (1w), Aminul 2-0-16-0, Afif 1-0-16-0, Mahmudullah 0.4-0-3-0
Result: Pakistan won by nine wickets
Toss: Bangladesh
Umpires: Ahsan Raza (PAK) and Shozab Raza (PAK)
Tv umpire: Ahmed Shahab (PAK)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI).
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