Nahid Rana five-fer crushes Pakistan in ODI series opener

Nahid Rana's five-wicket haul and a quickfire 67* from Tanzid Hasan Tamim powered Bangladesh to a crushing nine-wicket win in the first ODI against Pakistan in Dhaka. After bundling Pakistan out for just 114, Bangladesh chased the target down in 15.1 overs.

Asked to bat first, Pakistan made a steady start. Sahibzada Farhan, fresh off a remarkable T20 World Cup, got underway with a couple of boundaries off Taskin Ahmed in the third over. His opening partner on debut, Maaz Sadaqat, struck his maiden boundary in the following over off Mustafizur Rahman.

Apart from an umpire review for a clean catch, the Powerplay passed uneventfully before Rana struck in his very first over. He removed Farhan off the last delivery of the 10th over, with the opener spooning a catch to point.

That wicket marked the beginning of a procession of Pakistani batters getting in and getting out. Shamyl Hussain, also on debut, was dropped in the 11th over but failed to capitalise on the reprieve, falling to Rana while attempting a pull. Sadaqat became Rana's third victim in the 14th over, top-edging a pull after being bounced.

The slide continued with Rana striking in each of his first five overs. Mohammad Rizwan was the next to fall, edging behind, before Salman Agha clipped one to short leg to hand Rana his five-wicket haul in the 18th over.

Any hopes of a revival were quickly crushed by Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who had Abdul Samad caught behind before trapping both Hussain Talat and Shaheen Afridi lbw in the 23rd over. Taskin Ahmed struck in the very next over, removing Mohammad Wasim Jr to leave Pakistan reeling at 82/9.

A last-wicket stand of 32 between Faheem Ashraf and Abrar Ahmed, with the former doing all the scoring, pushed Pakistan past three digits before Mustafizur Rahman broke through.

Pakistan's shoddiness with the bat carried into their start with the ball as both Shaheen Afridi and Faheem conceded five wides in their opening overs. Despite losing Saif Hassan in the third over, Bangladesh barely broke a sweat in the chase. Tanzid Hasan Tamim got underway by cracking three boundaries in the first two overs before Najmul Hossain Shanto joined him.

Both batters were quick to pounce on loose deliveries and there were plenty of them as Pakistan continued to be indisciplined with the ball. Tanzid smacked Mohammad Wasim Jr for a six and a four in the sixth over while Shanto reeled off three fours off Shaheen in the next. The introduction of spin, through Abrar Ahmed in the eighth over, did little to slow Bangladesh down as he was greeted with two sixes.

Bangladesh raced to 81/1 by the end of the Powerplay, with Tanzid bringing up his fifty off just 32 balls two overs later. Wasim Jr finally ended the 82-run stand by dismissing Shanto in the 14th over but Bangladesh had all but sealed the game by then. The result was confirmed two overs later, ironically with Wasim Jr firing a wide down the leg side.

Brief Scores:Pakistan 114 all-out in 30.4 overs (Faheem Ashraf 37, Sahibzada Farhan 27; Nahid Rana 5-24, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 3-29) lost to Bangladesh 115/2 in 15.1 overs (Tanzid Hasan Tamim 67*, Najmul Hossain Shanto 27; Shaheen Afridi 1-35) by 8 wickets.