Tigers complete clean sweep.
Soumya Sarkar took the inspiration from Tamim Iqbal to end his long innings drought and hit his maiden century as Bangladesh completed the clean sweep over Pakistan in the three-match one-day International series in Dhaka on Wednesday. Left-handed Soumya smashed an unbeaten 127 guiding the hosts to 251-2 for an eight-wicket win after skipper Azhar Ali’s first one-day century led Pakistan to 250 all out. Bangladesh, who won the first two matches by 79 runs and seven wickets, have now tasted their 10th clean sweep in an ODI series, the first against an Asian side. Their win was never in any doubt after Soumya, who hit 13 fours and six sixes in his 110-ball innings, and in-form Tamim shared 145 runs in the opening stand. Tamim, who had slammed centuries in the first two matches, raised the prospect of an unprecedented third consecutive hundred for his country before he fell for 64. Junaid Khan had the opener leg-before for Pakistan’s first breakthrough and bowled Mahmudullah off his next over for four to briefly halt the momentum. But Mushfiqur Rahim ensured Bangladesh did not suffer further hiccup as he and Soumya took their side home with 63 balls in hand with a 97-run partnership off just 70 balls.
Mushfiq had to be contented with an unbeaten 49 runs after flicking Junaid for a fine leg boundary to complete the win. ‘I was getting out in 20s and 30s, so I was concerned,’ said man of the match Somuya. ‘I talked to my elder brothers and they said, 20-30 runs are not a matter. They asked me to play the way I play and assured me that I will overcome it automatically. ‘So I started on a similar note today. When I first saw my run was 18 at that point of time I thought that okay that was done quite smoothly. ‘So I didn’t do anything differently today,’ said Soumya, who completed his century off 94 balls with a spectacular six off Azhar. Pakistan made three changes to their squad coming into the match, dropping out of sort Saeed Ajmal and vice-captain Sarfraz Ahmed alongside injured Rahat Ali. But it did help them little as the Tigers overpowered them once again in all three departments. They had the early momentum with them reaching 203-2 in 39 overs before Bangladesh finally took the control of the game.
Sakib al Hasan bowled Azhar for 101 off 112 balls to spark a dramatic collapse that saw them losing their last eight wickets for just 47 runs. Azhar did his part as opening batsman to become the first Pakistani captain in five years to score a one-day century following Shahid Afridi’s 124 against Bangladesh in 2010. Nasir Hossain earned the first breakthrough for the Tigers when he ended Azhar’s 91-run stand with debutant Sami Aslam. All rounder Mohammad Hafeez was bowled by Sunny for four to extend his batting misery in a series where he compiled just eight runs from three matches. Haris Sohail (52) added 98 with Azhar for the third wicket before Pakistan collapsed finally. ‘We were going quite nicely till the 39th over when Sohail got out,’ said a remorseful Azhar. ‘We lost the momentum of the innings which I think was the turning point. ‘We should have scored near 300 or more. I think the last 12 overs were very disappointing. ‘As a captain I feel responsible for not performing. You would be told how to play but you have to apply it in the middle. ‘We will have to take responsibilities for the performance,’ said a dejected Azhar. The two teams will play a Twenty20 international on Friday before starting a two-match Test series from April 28.
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