1st T20I: Bangladesh beat Pakistan by 7 wickets in opener

One and a half months after getting swept by Pakistan in a T20I series, Bangladesh have bounced back strong and have defeated the Men in Green in the first T20I with a dominant win in Dhaka on Sunday, July 20. Led by a strong all-round display, the Bangla Tigers made light work of the visitors with a seven-wicket win Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka.

This win is Bangladesh's first T20I win at home against Pakistan after nine years. They had last won a T20I against the Men in Green at home in 2016, having beaten them by five wickets after chasing down 130.

This time, the Litton Das-led Bangladesh chased down 111 pretty easily with Parvez Hossain Emon leading the way with the bat with his unbeaten 56 from 39 balls. Towhid Hridoy and Jaker Ali also played their parts, with the former making a composed 36 from 37 balls, while Ali made an unbeaten 15 from 10 deliveries.

Parvez and Towhid avoided the initial jolts inflicted by Salman Mirza when he scalped



two wickets in his consecutive overs, getting Tanzid Hasan, Tamim and Litton Das. The two held the fort to avoid further and held the fort. While their 73-run stand was not at a rate of knots, they did well to keep wickets in hand and help the team secure a safe win.

While the batters did their job with the willow, it was Mustafizur Rahman who was the star with the ball in hand. Mustafizur picked up two wickets for six runs in his four overs as he bowled the most economical four-over spell by a Bangladesh bowler in the history of T20Is. 

He was pretty mingy as he hardly gave away any runs. Mustafizur took and wicket for only a run in his first over, the fifth of the innings, when he removed Hasan Nawaz. 

He returned for the 11th over and conceded only two runs in the over, which also featured a run out of Fakhar Zaman. The left-arm speedster gave two more in his third over, while dismissing Khushdil before conceding just a single in his final over.