Bangladeshi pace bowlers proved once again why they are considered a dominant force in world cricket today as they put up a commendable show against Pakistan on Wednesday despite missing their key member Mustafizur Rahman. The absence of Mustafizur was expected to be a big blow for the Tigers as he is considered to be the the most weapon in their pace battery.But the rest of the pack took up the responsibility on their shoulder to give them the kind of start that they were looking for in what turned out to be a must win contest for both sides.
As a result they restricted Pakistan to 129-7, though it could have been much better if they had not lost the momentum in the middle overs.
Taskin Ahmed and Al-Amin Hossain began to show their capability form the very beginning to reduce Pakistan to 28-4. They bowled with such authority that Pakistan could gather just 20 runs in the first six overs of batting powerplay and 34 runs in first 10 overs.
Taskin was at his brilliant best conceding just two runs in his first three overs. He could have been easily set the new record of best economic bowling in Twenty20 internationals if he had not conceded 12 runs in his final over at a time when Bangladesh already handed the momentum to Pakistan.
Al Amin Hossain was consistent all through the tournament and apart from the match against Sri Lanka, he picked a wicket in his opening spell on every other occasions.
He finished with 3-25 eventually that took his tally to 10 wickets in the tournament, the highest by any bowler so far in the tournament, surpassing UAE captain Amjad Javed, who has eight wickets.
Though, skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza could not maintain the same rhythm like the younger duo, he at least did not do anything worst. Mashrafee provided a key breakthrough with the wicket of Mohammad Hafeez to keep Pakistan on the backfoot.
Such was the discipline in Bangladesh’s bowling that they did not concede a single extra-run.
-With New Age input
