Pakistan whitewash Bangladesh to win T20I series

Allround Pakistan whitewashed Bangladesh to win the three-match T20I series at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday (October 30).

Electing to bat first, half-century by Javeria Khan and Omaima Sohail's crucial knock of 31 helped Pakistan post 117 for the loss of seven wickets. Pakistan suffered an early hiccup as Jahanara Alam cleaned up Ayesha Zafar (2) off the second ball of the innings.

Soon after Panna Ghosh joined the party. The medium pacer got the big wicket of in-form Bismah Maroof as Nigar Sultana pulled off a brilliant diving catch at backward point to end Maroof's innings cheaply for four, leaving Pakistan struggling at 19 for two.

Omaima joined Javeria and the duo combined to stitch a 67-run partnership for the third wicket. Both the batters mixed caution with aggression to first settle themselves in before opening their arms. Rumana Ahmed gave Pakistan another dent as she ran Omaima out.

Javeria tried to single-handedly pushed the scoreboard and took Pakistan past 100-run mark. However, after completing her second consecutive fifty, which saw seven boundaries, Javeria fell for 54 off Ahmed. The dismissal of Pakistan's experienced player led to a wobble towards the end.

The tail-enders could not make an impact as Alam returned to pick up two more wickets and, Diana Baig and debutante Saba Nazir remained unbeaten on four each. For Bangladesh, Alam took three wickets while Ahmed scalped two.

In reply, Bangladesh failed to take off and lost their top-order quickly. Anam Amin, the left-arm spinner, cleaned up both Sharmin Akter and Sanjida Islam in the space of two balls to deliver a wicket-maiden. Eight balls later, Shamima Sultana too joined her teammates back in the dugout as she was caught by Maroof while attempting to hit over mid-wicket.

A terrible mix-up between Nigar Sultana and Ahmed (5) led to the run out of the latter by Pakistan skipper. Fargana Hoque joined Sultana and the duo displayed some fight for their side with regular boundaries. Nazir, who had earlier in the day received her T20I cap, got rid of both the set batters - Sultana got run out while Hoque became Nazir's maiden wicket as Bangladesh player was caught at long off by Kainat Imtiaz.

Alam and Salma Khatun, too, could not stay longer at the crease. Alam (2) became Imtiaz's victim while Nazir returned to pick up her second wicket of the day - Khatun (9). Bangladesh were restricted on 89 for the loss of eight.

For Pakistan, Amin and Nazir returned with two wickets each.

Brief scores:

Pakistan 117/7 in 20 overs (Javeria Khan 54, Omaima Sohail 31, Jahanara Alam 3-12) beat Bangladesh 89/8 in 20 overs (Nigar Sultana 30, Fargana Hoque 27, Anam Amin 2-10) by 28 runs. PoTM: Javeria Khan; PoTS: Jahanara Alam and Bismah Maroof.