Bangladesh beats Pakistan by 7 wickets in T20 series opener

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MIRPUR, Bangladesh (AP) — Super tight bowling by pacer Mustafizur Rahman and a half-century from opener Parvez Hossain Emon led Bangladesh to a seven-wicket victory against Pakistan with almost five overs to spare in their T20 series opener on Sunday.

Parvez struck a 39-ball 56 not out, with three fours and five sixes, to help Bangladesh reach 112-3 in 15.3 overs after winning the toss and dismissing Pakistan for 110 in 19.3 overs with Rahman conceding only six runs in his four overs.

Parvez and Towhid Hridoy (36) batted with caution to add 73 runs for the third wicket, a partnership that was key to victory on a tricky surface.

Pakistan had reduced Bangladesh’s reply to 7-2 with debutant Salman Mirza (2-23) taking two wickets in the first three overs of the match.

The pacer dismissed Tanzid Hasan with an extra bounce in his fifth ball in international cricket before getting the better of captain Liton Das.

Tanzid and Liton made 1 run each.

Pakistan could have tightened the grip had Abrar Ahmed not dropped Hridoy early in the innings at third man. Mohammad Haris later missed a direct hit that would have seen Hridoy well short of the crease.

Parvez and Hridoy then played almost chanceless innings to set up the victory.

Abbas Afridi ended the partnership by dismissing Hridoy when Bangladesh was 31 runs away from the victory.

Parvez raised his fifty from 34 balls by pulling Faheem Ashraf for a six over deep mid-wicket as Bangladesh reached 100.

Jaker Ali (15 not out) scored the winning runs by pulling Salman Miraz for a boundary through midwicket.

Rahman master class

Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed ended with 3-22 but his fellow pacer Rahman did the real damage with a master class in economical bowling that saw him take 2-6 in four overs after Bangladesh opted to bowl first.

Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman top-scored with 44 off 34 balls with six fours and one six.

Five of the top six Pakistan batters were out for single figures in bowling-friendly conditions.

“We started well but we kept on losing wickets,” Pakistan captain Salman Agha said. “We will sit down and talk … next game we will have to be better. Whenever you come to Bangladesh, you expect these kind of pitches.”

Fakhar could have gone in the first over but Taskin put down a simple catch at long-on off, denying offspinner Mahedi Hasan a wicket.

Taskin quickly made amends, taking the wicket of Saim Ayub with a back-of-length delivery, and Mahedi was rewarded for his persistency in the next over by getting rid of Mohammad Haris.

Salman Agha lost his wicket after playing a rash shot while Rahman baffled Hasan Nawaz with his mysterious cutter.

Pakistan was further jolted when Mohammad Nawaz and Fakhar were run out.

Taskin claimed two wickets in the last over.

The second of three T20 matches is on Tuesday.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket