CHRISTCHURCH: Pakistan tuned up for the tri-series final against hosts New Zealand with a nerve-wracking seven-wicket win over Bangladesh on Thursday after Mohammad Nawaz secured victory with just a ball to spare.

Captain Shakib Al Hasan notched his second straight half-century with a confident knock of 68 and with Litton Das, who top scored with 69, powered Bangladesh to 173-6 in Christchurch.

That proved insufficient, however, as an unbeaten match-changing innings of 45 off 20 balls from Mohammad Nawaz saw Pakistan through after the opening pair of captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan had set up the successful chase with fifties.

Babar made 55 off 40 balls and Rizwan went on to 69 runs off 56 balls, sharing a101-run opening partnership, before the skipper was finally caught in the 12th over. Then Haider Ali immediately went for a duck, clean bowled by Hasan Mahmud.

Pakistan were under pressure but Nawaz wrestled the match away from Bangladesh with a stunning four, then a six and another four off three consecutive balls in the 15th over.

Bangladesh took the game to the wire when Rizwan holed out in the deep in the 19th over with Pakistan needing nine from seven balls.

At the start of the last over they needed eight from six balls but with Nawaz still at the crease, Pakistan were in command.

Asif Ali took a streaky single from the first ball and Nawaz played an overhead tennis shot from the second ball for two. Nawaz continued to find gaps in the field to grab two more doubles and then sealed the victory with a four squeezed between point and short third-man.

Pakistan face hosts New Zealand in Friday’s final while Bangladesh finish on four straight defeats in the tri-series, a warm-up event ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia.

Rizwan was the man of the match, but he immediately paid tribute to Nawaz.

“I would give credit to Nawaz for the way he batted on this wicket,” Rizwan said. “If you ask me honestly, the Bangladesh bowlers bowled extremely well but Nawaz’s innings changed the momentum.

“I think if you give a chance to the Bangladesh bowlers they don’t make it easy because they bowl very well. You have to bat within your plan because chasing a target is always difficult and you must keep wickets in hand. Obviously, the win gives us confidence, but New Zealand is playing at home.”

Bangladesh head to the T20 World Cup mired in a poor run of results but they still picked up some momentum for their campaign in Australia. The team’s total on Thursday was its best of the tournament and their third-best against Pakistan in a T20 international.

Bangladesh have tried different opening combinations in the series but their latest pairing of Soumya Sarkar (4) and Najmul Hossain Shanto (12) also failed to click, the former falling at the start of the third over with seven on the scoreboard.

Das, who turned 28 on Thursday, appeared to suffer a muscle strain a few balls into his knock but he still managed to combine in an 88-run, third-wicket stand with captain Shakib, firing six fours and two sixes around Hagley Oval.

After Das was finally caught by Mohammad Wasim, Shakib kept the scoreboard ticking over.

“It’s been difficult but I think we played our best cricket today,” all-rounder Shakib said. “We could have scored a few more runs, we only got three runs in the final over where we would expect 12 to 15.

“But I don’t want to point out the negative side, we played really well in the middle overs, where we were lacking, so that’s a very good sign.

“The impression we wanted to get from this series, we got that, so it’s up to us to express ourselves and do something good for the country.

“I think from a management point of view we are very clear now on the team which will play in the World Cup which is what exactly we were looking for.”

Scoreboard

BANGLADESH:

Najmul Hossain c Rizwan b Wasim 12 Soumya Sarkar c Shadab b Naseem 4 Litton Das c Wasim b Nawaz 69 Shakib Al Hasan c Shadab b Naseem 68 Afif Hossain run out (Rizwan) 11 Yasir Ali c Nawaz b Wasim 1 Nurul Hasan not out 2 Mohammad Saifuddin not out 1 EXTRAS (W-5) 5
TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 173
DID NOT BAT: Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud FALL OF WICKETS: 1-7 (Soumya), 2-41 (Najmul), 3-129 (Litton), 4-167 (Shakib), 5-170 (Yasir), 6-170 (Afif) BOWLING: Naseem 4-0-27-2 (2w), Hasnain 4-0-38-0 (1w), Wasim 4-0-33-2 (1w), Shadab 4-0-31-0 (1w), Nawaz 3-0-37-1, Iftikhar 1-0-7-0

PAKISTAN:

Mohammad Rizwan c Najmul b Soumya 69 Babar Azam c sub (Mosaddek) b Hasan 55 Haider Ali b Hasan 0 Mohammad Nawaz not out 45 Asif Ali not out 2 EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-1, W-4) 6
TOTAL (for three wickets, 19.5 overs) 177
DID NOT BAT: Shan Masood, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain FALL OF WICKETS: 1-101 (Babar), 2-101 (Haider), 3-165 (Rizwan) BOWLING: Hasan 4-0-27-2, Taskin 4-0-32-0 (2w), Shoriful 4-0-30-0, Mohammad Saifuddin 3.5-0-53-0 (1w, 1nb), Shakib 3-0-28-0, Soumya 1-0-6-1 (1w) RESULT: Pakistan won by seven wickets.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2022