CHRISTCHURCH: Hoping to find the right team combination before the T20 World Cup, Pakistan started off their tri-series campaign on a winning note. They defeated Bangladesh comfortably after brief hiccups by 21 runs.
Having won the toss, Bangladesh chose to field first. Pakistan, with yet another cautious start, lost captain Babar Azam soon after the powerplay ended for 22. Shan Masood joined Mohammad Rizwan at the crease, who played what turned out to be a match-winning knock.
Masood scored 31 off 22 before he too fell to Nasum Ahmed. Haider Ali failed to make an impact yet again and could only score 6 off 6. At one stage, it looked like Pakistan would not be able to post more than 150 had it not been for the brilliance of Rizwan who scored 78 off 50 and remained not out.
In reply, the Bangladeshi batters did not look like they were playing to win at any stage except for a brief fight back led by Litton Das and Afif Hussain. Once they both got out, the rest of the batters only turned up for the sake of it.
In the end, Pakistan won comfortably by 21 runs despite Haris Rauf conceding 20 runs in the final over. Rizwan was named the Player of the Match.