Sports Reporter :
Despite Mahfuzur Rahman’s all-round performance Bangladesh High Performance (HP) team tasted a thrilling three-wicket loss to Pakistan ‘A’ Cricket team in a T20 cricket match at Darwin in Australia on Friday.
Mahfuzur Rahman cracked a windy 41. His 32-ball undefeated innings was studded with five fours and a sixer.
Later, he captured one wicket for 26 runs. He was adjudged the Man of the Match for his outstanding performance.
Sent into bat first, Bangladesh HP team piled up a fighting total of 141 for the loss of five wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
In reply, Pakistan ‘A’ Cricket team reached the winning target making 143 for the loss of seven wickets when they had just seven balls to spare.
Bangladesh had a sorrow start as in-form opener Jishan Alam was dismissed by Abbas Afridi for a duck when Bangladesh’s score was naught.
After Jishan’s dismissal, opener Tanzid Hasan and one-down Parvez Hossain Emon mended the innings scoring together 48 runs for the second wicket partnership before Tanzid Hasan was dismissed by Mubasir Khan when Bangladesh’s total was 48 for the loss of two wickets.
Tanzid Hasan scored 18 from 19 deliveries including one four.
After Tanzid’s departure, Emon could not stay at the crease for a long period as he was dismissed by Faisal Akram when Bangladesh’s total was 52 for the loss of three wickets. Emon made 27 from 20 balls featuring three fours and a sixer.
Second-down Afif Hossain (4) was caught behind by wicketkeeper Mohammad Haris off Faisal Akram when Bangladesh’s score was 53 for the loss of four wickets.
Akbar Ali (1) was dismissed by Faisal Akram when the Bangladesh’s total was 58 for the loss of five wickets.
Then, Shamim Hossain and Mahfuzur Rahman fought back putting together 83 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket partnership before Bangladesh’s innings came to an end.
Shamim Hossain remained unbeaten with 44 runs. He hit five fours in his 38-ball knock.
Faisal Akram grabbed three wickets in the space of 10 runs, while Abbas Afridi and Mubasir Khan took one wicket each conceding 37 and 21 runs respectively. Later, second-down Omair Yousuf, opener Mohammad Haris, third-down Usman Khan, opener Sahibzada Farhan and seventh-down Jahandad Khan shone with the willow scoring 37, 32, 19, 17 and 11( not out) respectively. Rakibul Hasan, Ripon Mondol and Mukidul Islam picked up one wicket each for 23, 27 and 33 runs respectively.