All-round performance helps Pakistan seal series against Bangladesh

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The 85-run stand between Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman helped Pakistan chase down the total of 109 in 18.1 overs.

Despite losing Babar Azam early, Bangladesh couldn't make further in-roads, succumbing to their seventh T20I defeat in a row.

Earlier, Bangladesh recovered after losing their openers in the first two overs but brilliant bowling in the back end of the innings from Pakistan, where they conceded only 44 runs in the last 10 overs, helped them restrict Bangladesh to a below-par total.

Afif, Najmul consolidate after early strikes

Bangladesh captain Mahmud Ullah called it right at the toss and once against chose to bat first against Pakistan.

Back in the XI replacing Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi struck early yet again with a vintage in-swinger into the right-hander, trapping Saif Hassan in front for a golden duck. His fellow opener Mohammad Naim followed him back to the pavilion an over later.

Afif Hossain's six in the next over off Afridi was a signal of intent from the batters as they started to counter-attack after the two early wickets. Najmul Hossain too kept finding the boundaries, taking Bangladesh to 36/2 in the Powerplay.

Bowlers stifle Bangladesh

Just when it looked like the batters had settled down, Afif fell trying to play a cheeky reverse paddle against Shadab Khan, only for the ball to catch the leading edge to Mohammad Rizwan behind the stumps.

In spite of the wicket, Najmul Hossain continued to play attacking cricket to keep the scoreboard ticking. Skipper Mahmud Ullah fell soon trying to dab the ball to third, only to catch the edge into the gloves of Rizwan.

Pakistan sent the other set batter Najmul Hossain Shanto in the very next over, with Shadab Khan taking a stunning return catch off his own bowling. The bowlers gave no respite to the Bangladesh batters, bowling tight lengths to curb the flow of runs.

With pressure building, Pakistan kept picking up wickets at regular intervals. Bangladesh found the boundary just once in the last eight overs as they limped to 108/7 in 20 overs.

Easy chase for Pakistan

In reply, Pakistan lost their skipper Babar Azam in just the third over for 1, once again chopping on to his stumps like he did in the first T20I.

Apart from the one six from Fakhar Zaman, Pakistan went boundary-less for the rest of the Powerplay, finishing on 27/1. The next four overs too fetched only a boundary but with the field spread out, there were plenty of runs on offer for the batters.

The batters started to tee off in the 11th over of the innings. Fakhar was given a reprieve by Saif Hasan, who dropped a skier in the deep. To make it worse, he let it trickle away for a four, helping Rizwan and Fakhar bring up their 50-run partnership.

Fakhar punished the bowlers for bowling short to him, smashing two sixes en route to his seventh T20I fifty. Rizwan too got a lifeline after Taskin Ahmed dropped him but was out two balls later. Aminul Islam, who was the bowler both the times the catches were dropped, finally got a wicket against his name.

Pakistan eventually completed the formalities with 11 balls and eight wickets remaining.