Nasir Hossain slammed his maiden international hundred but Pakistan still confirmed the series with a comfortable 76-run victory in the second one-day international to lead the three-match series 2-0 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
The right-hander’s knock came as a great relief for the home side when it seemed that they forgot the knowledge of batting against the formidable bowling attack of Pakistan. The match was virtually over for Bangladesh when they slipped to 19 for four in the 10th over in reply to Pakistan’s 262 for seven.
But the young Nasir stood tall to give his teammates some confidence in the series and his effort helped the Tigers complete their 50-over quota for 186 for seven. The all-rounder from Rangpur showed during his 134-ball 100, the first century in the series, it’s not impossible to play against the versatile Pakistan attack if someone has guts and determination.
Despite Bangladesh’s pathetic batting performances in the one-off T20 and first one-dayer, a huge crowd still turned up at the stadium but another top order failure disheartened them before Nasir gave something to cheer in the match.
And on way to achieving their record sixth consecutive series victory, the inform Pakistan team executed another clinical display after captain Misbahul Haque had decided to bat.
But the home fans will remember the match for Nasir’s heroic effort.
Nasir completed his hundred in grand style when he whacked leg-spinner Shahid Afridi for six over extra cover on the very first ball of the penultimate over to reach 92 and then smashed two boundaries, the second being a lucky one that sneaked through to third man, to reach the magical three-figure mark.
The match fate was already written on the wall after Bangladesh lost four wickets for 19 runs when Nasir joined former skipper Shakib Al Hasan to repair the damages, but the duo batted without any real purpose. Their 106-run fifth wicket stand only salvaged some pride for the home team but could not make any impact in the match. Shakib, who was dropped by Mohammad Hafeez when he was on two, played 90 balls to make 34 runs with one boundary while Nasir, surviving twice, smote eleven fours and one six.
The top four batsmen — Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Shahriar Nafees and captain Mushfiqur Rahim — were the main culprits behind another massive defeat as all of them threw away their wickets. Off-spinner Hafeez and pacer Umar Gul, who was the most successful bowler with four wickets, ripped through the top order sharing four wickets.
Earlier the Pakistani top order showed what should be the right technique to bat on this kind of surface. All of their top order batsmen first made the adjustment with the condition and then tried to play the shots.
Shafiul Islam gave the early breakthrough by removing Imran Farhat, but Hafeez (37) and Younis Khan (37) played sensibly by rotating the strikes to steady the ship. Umar Akmal was the only batsman who scored a fifty. Akmal made 59 off 54 balls with five fours and a six.
In the end a small and vital cameo came from dashing Afridi who hit 27-ball 42 that contained three boundaries and two sixes but the right-hander was lucky as Shafiul failed to clutch a return catch when he was on 8.
-With The Daily Star input
