Bangladesh vs Pakistan: 2nd T20 Today in Dhaka
Bangladesh will take on the visiting Pakistan team in the second T20 match at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium today. The match will begin at 6pm and will be aired live on T Sports and Nagorik TV. A victory in the match will give Bangladesh its first ever series victory over Pakistan in this format. Bangladesh stood on the brink of history after thrashing Pakistan in the first game of the three-match series by seven wickets. If Bangladesh win today's game, they will clinch another series for the first time against a top-tier nation, having won their maiden series in Sri Lanka less than a week ago. Pakistan, which swept Bangladesh in three-match T20 series at home in May, were found wanting in the first game as they struggled against the Bangladesh bowlers, who utilized the home pitch to good effect. Taskin Ahmed ended with 3-22, but Mustafizur Rahman did the real damage with an astounding figure 4-0-6-2. Pakistan were wrapped up for just 110 in 19.3 overs, a total that Bangladesh gunned down with almost five overs to spare.
On a pitch, where, Pakistan batters found themselves in troublesome situation, Bangladesh batted with ease, especially the opener Parvez Hossain Emon, who blasted a 39-ball 56 not out to script the side's only fourth victory in 23 meetings against Pakistan. Three of Bangladesh's four victories against Pakistan have come at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, a stat that gave them confidence to confirm the series. "We definitely know about the wicket because we played lots of cricket in Mirpur. It's not an easy wicket to bat on, but the way we batted, it looks good," Bangladesh captain Liton Das said, adding that they want to go in the same vein during the second match. Bangladesh are unlikely to ring any changes to their winning combination for today's match. Pakistan, however, vowed to come back in the series, showing a strong performance in a match that turned out to be a 'must win' game for them. "We got off to a little bit of a flyer. Fakhar Zaman played four or five shots. It gave us a false indication about how the surface was playing," Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson said.
"We didn't help ourselves through the middle. We chose some poor options but when the ball started to nip through and bounced steeply, we probably didn't assess that it was a bit more challenging to play high-risk shots." Bangladesh: Liton Das (capt), Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Mohammad Naim, Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rishad Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mohammad Saifuddin. Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza and Sufyan Moqim.
