Bangladesh 290 for 5 (Tanzid 107, Hridoy 48, Rauf 3-52) beat Pakistan 279 (Agha 106, Masood 38, Afridi 37, Taskin 4-49) by 11 runs
This was an old-fashioned classic disguised as 21st century cricket. The best ODI match of the year so far, tucked away as a bilateral decider in Mirpur. Two batters, Salman Agha and Tanzid Hasan, played stellar knocks while everyone else struggled on a pockmarked pitch. Yes, this was old-fashioned: there was the tragic Pakistan collapse, the comical Pakistan running, and the tragicomic Pakistan finish. At the end of it all, Bangladesh won their second successive bilateral ODI series against Pakistan after 11 years.Let’s start with just the last over: one wicket left, Shaheen Shah Afridi on strike, Rishad Hossain with the ball. 14 needed off 6. Off the second delivery, Rishad ran back to collect a skier and spilled it mid-on when he could have closed out the match. With 12 needed off 2, a wide was given, then a sneaky review was taken by Bangladesh to reverse it. With 12 needed off 1, Afridi ventured down the track and missed the ball all ends up, and could have been off for a stroll by the time Litton Das remembered to whip off the stumps.
However, the match was a long way away from being a heart-stopper, and had mostly been a one-way dogfight with Bangladesh calling the shots. Then, Agha made a belated entry to the middle. Pakistan had been reduced to 67 for 4. They were chasing 291 on a pitch that turned when you slowed it down, and bounced when you speared it in.
Taskin Ahmed was the early wrecker-in-chief for Bangladesh, taking out Sahibzada Farhan and Mohammad Rizwan in the first and third over of the powerplay. Maaz Sadaqat departed to an edge off Nahid Rana in the one over in between. Yet, debutant Ghazi Ghori and two-ODIs-old Abdul Samad got together to stem the bleeding: they poked and they prodded, and sometimes middled one, as they laboured to a 50-run partnership in 66 balls. The highlight of their partnership was at least four run-out chances, with many yes-and-no calls as nerves gave way.
Salman Ali Agha hit 106 off 98 balls•AFP/Getty Images
Bangladesh were poor in the field themselves, with misfields and balls parried away by the close-in fielders – twice against Ghori and Samad – letting Pakistan stay in the contest for as long as they did. Ghori, in particular, rode his luck, smacking three fours and one eye-catching six into the deep square boundary.
Ghori (29) and Samad (34) departed in quick succession. Having walked in with 224 needed off 36 overs, Agha built a case for Pakistan’s chase from one end, while Saad Masood, the other debutant of the day, kept the other end chugging along. Still, a rush of young blood was inevitable. They had put together a 59-run partnership for the sixth wicket when Masood rushed down the pitch, and Mustafizur Rahman rattled his stumps. Agha took off his gloves and helmet, and sunk to his haunches at the other end.The pitch might as well have been laid out with Mustafizur in mind, as he kept angling balls away from the batters to finish with figures of 3 for 54. But Agha countered him – and the other pacers – by mostly sticking to shots down the ground. His knock was peppered with nine fours and four sixes. This was as good a riposte as any with the bat in hand, having been run-out in the previous game for being a good samaritan while out of his crease.
Here, he only kept the team’s needs in mind as he dug deeper in the middle with skipper Afridi at the other end. Even when he bashed Rana down the ground in the 45th over to bring up his century, they still needed an unlikely 48 off 35 balls. He did not indulge in much of a celebration.
Agha and Afridi compiled 52 runs in just 7.5 overs, but Agha was the first of the pair to depart: skying a cross-batted shot off Taskin to become his fourth and final victim of the night in the 48th over.
Taskin Ahmed celebrates the wicket of Sahibzada Farhan•AFP/Getty Images
Afridi kept the fight going until the end of the match, drilling two fours and two sixes in a knock of 37 off 38. He was only dismissed on the final ball, and Pakistan ended up on the wrong side of a 2-1 series result.
Earlier in the day, Bangladesh had put together an old-fashioned innings of their own after being put in to bat. When Tanzid smacked Agha over the ropes in the 33rd over, he was not wearing a helmet like the batters of yesteryears. He bumped his partner’s first at the other end, performed the sajda, and wiped away his sweat on a humid day in Mirpur. He had brought up his maiden ODI ton in the most old-school way possible.
His century was only one of two Bangladesh knocks that managed to go at or over run-a-ball. On a visibly worn pitch – also used for the first ODI of the series – Tanzid was clad in a helmet for most of the innings. But even as he hit six fours and seven sixes, most of his run-making shots were along the ground. He stitched together a 105-run partnership for the first wicket alongside Saif Hassan, who looked less comfortable in his stay of 36 off 55 at the crease.
Tanzid kept one end stable through the middle overs, right up till when he cut a long-hop by Abrar Ahmed to Afridi at covers in the 37th over. It was a good reward for Abrar, who was Pakistan’s best spinner, bowling with varied pace and cramping up the batters throughout the middle overs.
Rauf – returning after his expensive opening spell – might have learned his lessons from Abrar too, though he had to fulfil a different job at the death overs. He plucked out Litton Das (41) and Rishad Hossain (0) in quick succession, pulling his lengths shorter to throttle Bangladesh at the end.
Haris Rauf finished with 3 for 52, and the only reason Bangladesh managed 290 for 5 was because of a late surge from Towhid Hridoy: he was the second batter to score above a strike rate of 100, getting 48 off 44.
Still, there were two lasting images from the day: one of Tanzid, smiling in celebration after bringing up his century. The other was of Agha after his dismissal – having struck a scintillating ton of his own, but wearing the glum look of a batter walking back with the job half-done.
Abhijato Sensarma is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo