(Cricket news) Pakistan started the series with an inspiring victory over Bangladesh in the first T20 match. Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bat first which clearly did not work out as the Pakistani bowlers were on target from the start to the end. It was an outstanding bowling performance by the teams as batters failed to score more than 40 runs. Although the match aggregate was low, it went till the final over as the bowlers put up a stellar performance.

Bangladeshi top order could not get the runs flowing in as Mohammad Wasim Jr and Hasan Ali were too good in the opening overs. Afif Hossain was the only batter who could bring in some runs for the team as he scored 36 from 34 balls, Mahedi Hasan played a cameo as he pushed the team’s score above 120. Hasan Ali was the leading bowler as he took three wickets for 22 runs and Shadab Khan was the most economical as he gave away 20 runs and took a wicket.

The Pakistani batters had an easy target to chase as the openers were expected to perform well. But the Bangladeshi bowlers did not want to give up in their home ground without putting up a fight and at one point even had chances of winning the match. The in-form openers failed to score as Fakhar Zaman played a patient knock of 34 from 36 balls until he was removed by Taskin Ahmed. Pakistan was struggling at 80-5 as Khushdil Shah played a fine innings as he once again brought back hopes to the side, after he departed Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz scored 39 runs in 19 balls as their partnership gave the final push for Pakistan to go 1-0 in the series. Shadab Khan played an all round innings as he hit a four and two sixes under pressure to lift the team in the death overs, the bowlers were the heroes today as they performed with the ball and the bat.

Pakistan and Bangladesh will hope to improve their batting department as it failed to get the runs on the scoreboard. The next match will be crucial as Bangladesh were close this time, they would not want to go through the same and Pakistan will look towards their openers as their form can make work easy for the bowlers as this time the bowlers had to put on their pads while finishing the chase.

Bangladesh 127/7 in 20 overs

Pakistan 132/ 6 in 19.2 overs

Man of the match: Hasan Ali (3/22 in 4 overs)

Also read: Harshal Patel, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul help India wrap up T20I series against New Zealand