DHAKA: Bangladesh, inspired by Soumya Sarkar’s maiden century, whitewashed Pakistan in a One-day International series for the first time after winning the third match by an emphatic eight wickets in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Bangladesh went into the match having already achieved a first ODI series win against Pakistan, and made more history.

The home side raced to 251-2 in the 40th over, after bowling out Pakistan for 250 in 49 overs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

It was the first series whitewash by the Tigers against an Asian Test-playing nation, and followed their appearance in the quarter-finals of the recent World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said he was delighted at the way the team had shaped up in the past few months and hoped to continue the good work in future.

“This is a good team we have and I am really happy the way we are playing,” he said. “Soumya was brilliant today but our work is not done yet. We will now focus on the remaining matches.”

The 22-year-old left-handed Soumya was not out on 127 off 110 balls, smashing 13 fours and six sixes.

Fellow opener Tamim Iqbal, who hit consecutive centuries in the last two matches, made 64 to take his run tally to 312, the highest for a Bangladeshi in any bilateral series, and the third highest in any three-match series.

Tamim, who was adjudged man-of-the-series, hit eight fours and one six in his 76-ball innings.

In-form Tamim, who scored hundreds in the first two matches, continued his rich vein of form and the opening stand of 145 between the two left-handers put paid to any hopes that Pakistan had of avoiding another defeat.

Tamim fell leg before to left-arm paceman Junaid Khan but Soumya continued to make hay, hitting 13 fours and six sixes, one of which took him from 95 to his first international ton.

Soumya and former captain Mushfiqur Rahim breezed to the target with an unbroken stand of 97 for the third wicket from 70 balls to complete an emphatic win for the hosts, who completed 10th clean sweep in their history.

Junaid (2-67) also dismissed Mohammad Mahmudullah (4) to leave Bangladesh 154-2.

However, Bangladesh effortlessly pushed on, as Mushfiqur joined Soumya to pile the misery on the listless Pakistani bowling attack. Mushfiqur fittingly hit the winning boundary off Junaid. The wicket-keeper/batsman was not out on 49 off 43 balls, including six fours.

Earlier, Pakistan captain Azhar Ali spearheaded his side’s effort with 101, but Pakistan wasted a good start, and lost their last eight wickets for 47 runs.

Azhar’s maiden century came off 111 balls, hitting 10 to the boundary. He shared in two significant partnerships before Bangladesh hit back.

Azhar and fellow opener Sami Aslam, the 19-year-old debutant, combined for 91. Sami made a fluent 45, hitting seven fours off 50 balls.

Both openers dealt with the Bangladeshi spinners with relative ease, until Nasir Hossain got the faintest of nicks off Sami’s thumb in the 18th over.

Spinner Arafat Sunny then continued Mohammad Hafeez’s horror run of form, bowling him with a straight delivery when he was on 4.

Azhar, however, helped the side recover with the help of Haris Sohail. They shared 98 runs for the third wicket. Haris struck 52 off 58 with one four and two sixes.

In the process, 30-year-old Azhar, returning to the ODI fold after two years, brought up his first ODI century with a double, flicking his counterpart Mashrafe Mortaza towards mid-wicket.

Azhar became the first Pakistan captain to hit an ODI century since Shahid Afridi, who scored 124 also Bangladesh during the Asia Cup at Dambulla in 2010.

Azhar’s joy was short-lived as, on the next ball he faced, Shakib Al Hasan removed him with an arm-ball to leave Pakistan still well poised on 203-3 in the 39th over.

Haris departed four runs later slicing Mashrafe for an easy catch.

The double dismissals sparked a sensational collapse as Pakistan lost their last six wickets for 43 runs on a pitch considered favourable to batsmen.

Left-arm spinners Shakib and Arafat, and fast bowlers Mashrafe and Rubel Hossain took two wickets each.

Azhar heaped praise on Bangladesh for outplaying his young team that included just four players from the World Cup.

“I would like to congratulate Bangladesh because they played very good cricket,” he said. “We played well in patches but we could not put it together. As everybody knows, our senior players have left the one-day scene. The youngsters have to stand up and we have to pull our heads together.

“Hopefully we do well in the Twenty20 and the Test series.”

The two teams will play a Twenty20 International on Friday before starting a two-Test series from April 28.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Azhar Ali b Shakib 101 Sami Aslam c Mushfiqur b Nasir 45 Mohammad Hafeez b Arafat 4 Haris Sohail c Rahim b Mashrafe 52 Mohammad Rizwan c and b Shakib 4 Fawad Alam c Nasir b Mashrafe 4 Saad Nasim c Taskin b Rubel 22 Wahab Riaz c Mashrafe b Rubel 7 Umar Gul run out 0 Zulfiqar Babar not out 1 Junaid Khan b Arafat 4

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-5) 6

TOTAL (all out, 49 overs) 250

FALL OF WKTS: 1-91, 2-105, 3-203, 4-207, 5-213, 6-224, 7-243, 8-244, 9-245.

BOWLING: Mashrafe Mortaza 10-0-44-2 (2w); Taskin Ahmed 2-0-22-0 (2w); Nasir Hossain 7-0-37-1; Rubel Hossain 6-0-43-2 (1w); Arafat Sunny 10-0-43-2; Shakib Al Hasan 10-0-34-2; Sabbir Rahman 2-0-17-0; Mohammad Mahmudullah 2-0-9-0.

BANGLADESH:

Tamim Iqbal lbw b Junaid 64 Soumya Sarkar not out 127 M. Mahmudullah b Junaid 5 Mushfiqur Rahim not out 49

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-4, NB-2) 7

Total (for two wkts, 39.3 overs) 251

FALL OF WKTS: 1-145, 2-154.

DID NOT BAT: Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza, Taskin Ahmed, Arafat Sunny, Rubel Hossain.

BOWLING: Mohammad Hafeez 8-1-37-0; Umar Gul 7-0-53-0 (3w); Wahab Riaz 6-0-30-0 (1w); Junaid Khan 7.3-0-67-2 (2nb); Zulfiqar Babar 10-0-56-0; Azhar Ali 1-0-7-0.

Result: Bangladesh won by eight wickets to win series 3-0.

UMPIRES: Sharfuddoula Saikat (Bangladesh) and R.S.A. Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka).

TV UMPIRE: N.J. Llong (England).

MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Soumya Sarkar.

MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Tamim Iqbal.

FIRST MATCH: Dhaka, Bangladesh won by 79 runs.

SECOND MATCH: Dhaka, Bangladesh won by seven wickets.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2015

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