DHAKA: Bangladesh survived a late onslaught by Faheem Ashraf and Ahmed Daniyal to pull off a narrow eight-run victory in the second T20I match on Tuesday, winning a first-ever series in the format against Pakistan.

Faheem hit an aggressive 32-ball 51 while debutant Ahmed smashed an 11-ball 17 but holed out off the second ball of the final over as Pakistan were all out for 125 in their chase of 134 to win in Dhaka.

Earlier, Jaker Ali struck a 48-ball 55 as Bangladesh — sent in to bat — were bowled out for 133 in 20 overs, with Salman Mirza taking 2-17 and Ahmed close behind on 2-23.

Left-arm Bangladesh pacer Shoriful Islam picked up his best T20I figures of 3-17 on a slow-paced Mirpur pitch as Pakistan lost their first five wickets for just 15 runs by the fifth over.

Faheem cracked four sixes and as many boundaries to raise hopes of a comeback win, but spinner Rishad Hossain bowled him in the penultimate over.

Faheem and Abbas Afridi, who scored a 13-ball 19, had revived the innings from 47-7 with a 41-run stand, but Bangladesh had the last laugh.

“The way we started bowling in the power play, we could have gotten like 10 fewer runs, but that’s the way cricket goes,” Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha said, trying to find positives for his side.

“But 130 was what we thought we had under control, but the way we batted in the power play, I think that needs to be improved. We want to bat well as a top order, and this is something we need to look at.

“And then, 15-5, and then bringing that game to that deep is just outstanding. The way Faheem batted. I think it’s outstandingly well; he almost took the game away from them, but that’s how cricket goes. But yeah, hats off to him for the way he batted.

“That’s what we are as a team. We don’t want to give up. This is what we are bringing to this team. We don’t want to give up no matter what situation we are in. We always think we can win the game. And that belief is in our team now, and the way we played, I think, is outstanding.”

Bangladesh won the first match at the same venue by seven wickets and took an unassailable 2-0 lead with the final match on Thursday, also in Dhaka.

This was Bangladesh’s first T20I series win over Pakistan in four tries.

Bangladesh skipper Litton Das praised a team effort.

“It’s wonderful to win back-to-back series,” said Litton, who also led the team to a 2-1 T20I series in Sri Lanka last week. “This shows good impro­vement in our standards.”

A pre-match minute’s silence was held with both teams and officials wearing black armbands for victims of a plane crash in the Bangladesh capital on Monday.

Bangladesh slumped to 28-4 by the sixth over before Jaker and Mahedi Hasan revived the innings with a 53-run stand for the fifth wicket.

Mohammad Naim fell in the second over, attempting a lap shot off Faheem only to edge it to the keeper.

The pressure grew further when Litton tried to go over midwicket but was caught by Hasan Nawaz off Salman Mirza. In the very next over, Towhid Hridoy was run out for a duck following a sharp direct hit by Pakistan skipper Salman.

Parvez Hossain Emon tried to break the shackles with a six but soon gave away his wicket for 13, skying a simple catch to mid-on off Ahmed.

Mahedi struck two boundaries and two sixes in a brisk 33 off 25 before falling to Mohammad Nawaz in the 14th over. His dismissal triggered another collapse.

Jaker, who smashed five sixes and a boundary for his third T20I half century, was the last to fall in the final delivery of the innings , top-edging a slower delivery of Abbas who ended with 2-37.

Pakistan lost opener Saim Ayub to a run out for one in the first over before Shoriful dismissed Fakhar Zaman (8) and Mohammad Haris (0) to hit Pakistan hard at the top.

Pacer Tanzim Hasan (2-23) and offspinner Mahedi (2-25) also kept up the pressure as Pakistan were 30-6 in 10th over with all their top six batters being out for single digits.

Faheem waged a lone battle, raising the prospect of an unlikely victory with Khushdil Shah (13) and Abbas giving him little support.

He brought up his maiden fifty from 31 deliveries, hoicking leg-spinner Rishad over long on for a six.

However Rishad (1-42) took the sweet revenge in the next delivery by crashing his stumps, leaving Pakistan 13 runs away from a series-leveling victory in the last over.

Ahmed hit a four in the first ball of the last over to give Pak­istan another glimmer of hope before holing out to mid-wicket on the next ball off Mustafizur Rahman.

SCOREBOARD

BANGLADESH:

Mohammad Naim c Haris b Faheem 3

Parvez Hossain c Faheem b Ahmed 13

Liton Das c Hassan b Mirza 8

Towhid Hridoy run out 0

Jaker Ali c Nawaz b Abbas 55

Mahedi Hasan c Hassan b Nawaz 33

Shamim Hossain b Ahmed 1

Tanzim Hasan c Fakhar b Mirza 7

Rishad Hossain b Abbas 8

Shoriful Islam run out 1

Mustafizur Rahman not out 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-2) 4

TOTAL (all out, 20 overs) 133

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-5 (Naim), 2-25 (Liton), 3-25 (Towhid), 4-28 (Parvez), 5-81 (Mahedi), 6-93 (Shamim), 7-100 (Tanzim), 8-111 (Rishad), 9-127 (Shoriful)

BOWLING: Mirza 4-1-17-2, Faheem 3-0-20-1 (1w), Ahmed 4-0-23-2 (1w), Nawaz 3-0-19-1, Saim 1-0-3-0, Khushdil 1-0-12-0, Abbas 4-0-37-2

PAKISTAN:

Fakhar Zaman c Liton b Shoriful 8

Saim Ayub run out 1

Mohammad Haris lbw Shoriful 0

Salman Ali Agha c Towhid b Mahedi 9

Hassan Nawaz c Liton b Tanzim 0

Mohammad Nawaz c Liton b Tanzim 0

Khushdil Shah lbw Mahedi 13

Faheem Ashraf b Rishad 51

Mohammad Abbas b Shoriful 19

Ahmed Daniyal c Shamim b Mustafizur 17

Salman Mirza not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-3, NB-1, W-3) 7

TOTAL (all out, 19.2 overs) 125

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-4 (Saim), 2-9 (Haris), 3-14 (Fakhar), 4-15 (Hasan), 5-15 (Nawaz), 6-30 (Salman), 7-47 (Khushdil), 8-88 (Abbas), 9-121 (Faheem)

BOWLING: Mahedi 4-0-25-2 (1w), Shoriful 4-0-17-3 (1w), Mustafizur 3.2-0-15-1, Tanzim 4-0-23-2 (1nb), Rishad 4-0-42-1 (1w)

RESULT: Bangladesh won by eight runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Jaker Ali

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2025