The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has called in pace bowler Kamrul Islam Rabbi and batter Parvez Hossain Emon for the third and final match of the Alesha Holdings T20 international series against Pakistan on November 22.
With stellar performances from Pakistani bowlers, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jr and Shadab Khan, who did not allow the Bangladeshi batters any leeway, especially in the first two overs, the Men in Green have won the first two matches. Pakistan restricted Bangladesh to a below-par 127 as they could hit merely three boundaries and seven sixes in both matches. The slower run rate also incurred a penalty for the hosts from the International Cricket Council (ICC).
This will be the maiden match for the two players. Bangladesh is down 2-0 in the series.
In front of a roaring home crowd, Bangladesh did not allow Pakistan a walkover as Mustafizur Rahman worked wonders early on by castling Rizwan. Babar Azam, Haider Ali and Shoaib Malik also succumbed to the magic of the Bangladeshi pace. Fakhar Zaman and Khushdil Shah took up the responsibility to do the needful by hitting 34 runs apiece. Shadab and Nawaz later accomplished the task.
However, the pacing attack of the hosts gave the home crowd some joy as they squeezed Pakistan to 24 for 4 in the powerplay.
Bangladeshi batters got a little salvation in each final over by Nawaz, Shadab, Wasim, Hasan and Haris Rauf who let go of 15, 13, 12, 11 and 15 respectively. These last overs by the five Pakistani bowlers collectively handed the hosts 66 runs, compared with 61 runs in the first three overs by these bowlers.
Following a dismal performance in the ICC’s Twenty20 World Cup, Bangladesh continued to play on the same lines. Their first boundary came in the sixth over as they hobbled to 40/4 in the first ten overs. The Bangladeshi middle order provided some relief to the home crowd as they scored 87 of the final ten.
