Middle order batter Yasir Ali hammered 42 of just 21 balls and Bangladesh made 146 in reply to Pakistan’s 167 in the first T20 match of Tri-series in New Zealand.
Earlier, Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Mohammad Rizwan scored 78 of just 50 balls, and Shan Masood hits 31 of 22 balls for Pakistan.
Taskin Ahmed took 2 wickets for 25 for Bangladesh.
In reply, Bangladesh batters failed to keep pace with the expected chasing momentum as Sabbir Rahman showed another lackluster performance (just 14 in 18 balls) and another opener Mehidy Miraz also got out by scoring just 10 runs (11 balls).
Liton Das and Afif Hossain made a partnership of 50 runs after the openers got out, but they couldn’t manage to accelerate run rate.
However, Yasir Ali, who came to bat at no. 7, took Bangladesh to 146 with his blistering knock and save the team from a defeat of big margin.
Mohammad Wasim took 3 wickets for 24 and Mohammad Nawaz took 2 for 25 for Pakistan to restrict Bangladesh under 150.
Regular Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan didn’t play in this match. In Shakib's absence, Nurul Hasan Sohan tossed the coin for Bangladesh.
Before this series, Bangladesh played 16 T20Is against Pakistan and won only two of them.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
