Fast bowlers Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman starred with the ball as Bangladesh cruised to a seven-wicket win over Pakistan in the first T20I in Dhaka on Sunday. Chasing a modest 111, opener Parvez Hossain smashed an unbeaten 56 to seal victory in just 15.3 overs and give the hosts a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.Put into bat, Pakistan crumbled to their lowest T20I total against Bangladesh — 110 all out in 19.3 overs. Taskin returned figures of 3 for 22, while Mustafizur was miserly with 2 for 6 in four overs. Pakistan’s previous lowest against Bangladesh was 127/5 at the same venue in 2021.Despite an early double-strike from debutant pacer Salman Mirza (2/23), who dismissed Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das cheaply, Bangladesh recovered swiftly. Parvez and Towhid Hridoy (36) stitched together a crucial 73-run stand for the third wicket to ease the chase.Parvez was in fine form, hitting five sixes and three boundaries during his 39-ball knock, finishing unbeaten on 56.The win marked only Bangladesh’s fourth victory over Pakistan in 23 T20Is.Earlier, Pakistan endured a nightmare start, losing half their side for just 46 by the eighth over. Saim Ayub (6), Mohammad Haris (4), captain Salman Agha (3), Hasan Nawaz (0), and Mohammad Nawaz (3) all fell cheaply.
Fakhar Zaman top-scored with 44 off 34 balls, including six fours and a six. He was twice reprieved — on 4 and 30 — before being run out after a mix-up with Khushdil Shah. Shah (17) and Abbas Afridi (22) later added 33 runs for the seventh wicket to take Pakistan past the 100-run mark.Reflecting on the loss, skipper Salman Agha said: “It wasn’t enough on the board as we lost wickets at regular intervals, which we have to talk about before the second game.”Litton Das acknowledged the challenge of batting on a slow pitch: “It’s not an easy wicket to bat on, but the way we batted, it looked good. We took early wickets and that’s the key point.”The second and third T20Is will also be played in Dhaka, on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.
