Bangladesh lose one-off Youth T20 to Pakistan by four wickets

Bangladesh Under-19 cricket team suffered a four-wicket defeat against their Pakistani counterparts in the one-off Twenty20 series at the Shaheed Kamaruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi on Wednesday.

Sent to bat, the home side posted 159-5 in their 20 overs with opener Jishan Alam leading the charge with a brisk 26-ball 52.

Chasing 160, the visitors were under pressure early on after losing the wicket of Shahzaib Khan for a duck in the first over.

The other opener Shamyl Hussain and captain Saad Baig then formed a partnership which fetched 41 runs and kept the scoreboard ticking.

Saad departed after making 24 off 16 balls while Shamyl went onto score a commanding 67 off 49 balls.

Arafat Minhas then struck a quickfire 41 off just 22 balls which took Pakistan to 160-6 in 19.1 overs.

For Bangladesh, pacer Iqbal Hossain was the standout bowler, finishing with 3-23 in his four overs.

Earlier, Jishan gave Bangladesh a flying start, scoring 32 runs off the 15 balls he faced in the first powerplay. But his opening partner Moinul Islam couldn’t break free from his shackles.

Their opening partnership was worth 72 runs off 55 balls, with Moinul contributing just 19 runs from the 29 balls he consumed.

After Jishan departed in the 10th over, captain Ahrar Amin played an entertaining innings of 20 off 10 balls and Ariful Islam made 30 off 25 balls, but it wasn’t enough to take Bangladesh to a total they could defend.

The junior Tigers had earlier lost the Youth One-Day International (YODI) series against the same opponents 1-4.