Maaz Sadaqat's all-round brilliance downs Bangladesh in truncated contest

A game involving Bangladesh and Pakistan is seldom short of drama and odd collapse. And in the 2nd ODI in Mirpur, one led to the other as Salman Agha's run out hogged all the limelight, following which Pakistan crashed and burned after setting a solid foundation with the bat.

As it turned out, it did not impact the eventual outcome as they thrashed Bangladesh by a whopping 128 runs via DLS on Friday (March 13). Such was the intensity and spice around what had transpired that even the weather Gods couldn't hold back, with a round of lightning and a hailstorm only adding to the narrative. With the series now level at 1-1, things could not have been set up any better for the decider at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday.

Pakistan were asked to bat first again on another grassy deck. Except this time, Maaz Sadaqat took no prisoners. Playing just his second ODI, the left-handed opener landed the first punch, striking two boundaries in the second over off Mustafizur Rahman before shuffling across and helping Taskin Ahmed behind and in front of square for two sixes. With Pakistan racing off the traps even as Sahibzada Farhan was largely a bystander at the other end, Bangladesh were forced to summon Nahid Rana in the fifth over. But even the wrecker-in-chief from the series opener was dispatched.

Pakistan raced past 50 in the 7th over before Rana was plundered for 22 runs off the ninth, with Sadaqat raising a 31-ball fifty. At 85/0 after the first Powerplay, Pakistan were on a rampage. But skipper Mehidy Hasan Miraz broke the opening stand of 103 off the last ball of the 13th over as Sadaqat attempted a scoop but popped it up to the wicket-keeper.

His 46-ball 75 was studded with six fours and five sixes and his dismissal slowed Pakistan's rate down as only 46 runs came off the next 13 overs. Farhan got a leading edge to deep third man in this period, shortly after which Shamyl Hussain was rushed into a pull off Rana for the second game running, bringing about his downfall.

Mohammad Rizwan's start was laborious, but Salman Agha counter-attacked, picking out the boundary regularly. He pumped the kind of momentum into the innings that Pakistan were desperately after as he notched up a fluent half-century, with Rizwan slowly picking up at his end. A superb partnership of 109 for the fourth wicket set Pakistan up for a huge score - until all hell broke loose once Mehidy rammed into Agha at the non-striker's end while trying to stop the ball off his own bowling. Agha, still outside his crease, bizarrely attempted handing the ball back to the bowler, who beat him to it before firing an underarm throw at the stumps to catch the batter short.

A fuming Agha stormed off - not before giving Mehidy a piece of his mind and hurling his gloves and helmet onto the ground. Rizwan perished in the same over, miscuing a slog-sweep to deep mid-wicket and a collapse ensued as Pakistan lost regular wickets. Abdul Samad was sold a dummy by Faheem Ashraf to find himself run out and Bangladesh continued to call the shots. Leg-spinner Rishad Hossain mopped up the innings to bundle the visitors out for 274 as Pakistan lost their last 7 wickets for just 43 runs.

Bangladesh's chase got off to a torrid start, as they lost their first three wickets for just 15 runs. Openers Tanzid Hasan and Saif Hassan perished in tame fashion before Najmul Shanto was castled for a duck. There was a moment of concern when Hussain Talat went off the field with an injured shoulder having attempted to avert a boundary. Soon after though, a lightning strike forced the players off the field, shortly after which a hailstorm didn't make for pretty viewing either. The weather eventually cleared up to revise Bangladesh's target to 243 in 32 overs.

Bangladesh's asking rate at the time of resumption neared the 8.5 mark and unsurprisingly, Litton Das and Towhid Hridoy responded in enterprising fashion, peeling off boundaries regularly. Das even struck a couple of sixes even as Sadaqat shelled a tough chance at deep backward square leg to give him a lifeline. The latter would redeem himself with the ball though, nabbing the veteran batter leg before with his left-arm spin.

Soon after, the chase came apart as three wickets fell across three overs with Sadaqat adding two more to cap off a dream day. The game seemed well past Bangladesh's reach for all practical purposes but it was truly done and dusted when Haris Rauf trapped Hridoy plumb in front for 28 in the 20th over. Rauf completed the clean-up act to finish with a three-fer as Bangladesh were skittled out for a paltry 114 halfway through the 24th over.

Brief Scores: Pakistan 274 in 47.3 overs (Maaz Sadaqat 75, Salman Agha 64, Rishad Hossain 3-56, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 2-34) beat Bangladesh 114 in 23.3 overs (Litton Das 41, Maaz Sadaqat 3-23, Haris Rauf 3-24) by 128 runs via DLS