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Bangladesh and Pakistan clashed against each other at the Eden Gardens as the fag end of the tournament begins. Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first and named one change to their playing 11 by replacing Mahedi Hasan with Towhid Hridoy. Pakistan on the other hand made three changes Shadab Khan who suffered a concussion while fielding was replaced by Usama Mir. Imam ul Haq and Mohammad Nawaz were replaced by Fakhar Zaman and Agha Salman. Bangladesh scored 204 runs against Pakistan. Here is a recap of the first innings.
Quick strikes for Pakistan
One of the things that Pakistan lacked in their opening six games was a lack of wickets upfront. Shaheen Afridi changed that with a wicket in the first over of the match. Afridi trapped Tanzid Hasan in front of the wickets and registered his 100th wicket in the format. Shaheen is the third fastest bowler to the milestone in terms of matches and is the quickest among fast bowlers to reach 100 wickets. Afridi playing his 51st match broke the record held by Mitchell Starc who took his 100th wicket in his 52nd match.
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Shaheen picked up another wicket in his next over dismissing Najmul Hossain Shanto. Iftikhar Ahmed from the opposite end too bowled with control conceding just eight runs in his first two overs. He was replaced by Haris Rauf in the sixth over. He was welcomed by two consecutive fours from Litton Das and then Mushfiqur Rahim too scored a boundary, but the Pakistani speedster had the last laugh as he dismissed Rahim on the last ball of the over. Pakistan lost a review while challenging an LBW call against Mahmadullah in the eighth over. Bangladesh scored 37 runs in the first 10 overs at the loss of three wickets.
Litton and Mahmadullah rebuild the innings
Mohammad Wasim Jr and Usama Mir were introduced in the attack right after the powerplay. Wasim Jr conceded two fours in his first over while Mir too was hit for a four in his first over. The duo lacked discipline with line and length and continuously leaked runs while they were bowling. Bangladesh scored 44 runs in eight overs after the powerplay. Iftikhar came back into the attack in the 19th over replacing Wasim Jr. Usama continued his spell and leaked 11 runs in the following over as he was smashed for a four by Litton and a six by Mahmadullah.
Pakistan strike back with quick wickets
Iftikhar finally got his first wicket of the match in the 21st over as he dismissed Litton Das. Litton was dismissed after playing a handy knock of 45 runs in 64 balls hitting six fours. Haris came back into the attack replacing Usama and conceded just one run in his first over of the spell. Haris and Iftikhar bowled economically with controlled lines and lengths and conceded only 15 runs in six overs (22-27). Mahmadullah completed his half-century during this phase. This was his 28th fifty in ODIs. Wasim came back into the attack in the 28th over and was welcomed with a four from Shakib al Hasan.
Shaheen came back into the attack in the 31st over and made an immediate effect by picking up the wicket of the half-centurion, Mahmadullah. Usama after an expensive first spell came back into the attack and was hit for a six in the 32nd over. Usama got his first wicket of the match by dismissing Towhid Hridoy. Bangladesh lost their sixth wicket with the score reading 141 runs. Shaheen was taken off the attack after just two overs and was replaced by Haris. Bangladesh once again let the scoring rate take a hit by scoring only 17 runs in four overs (33-36).
Shakib and Mehidy Hasan start to accelerate
Iftikhar came back into the attack in the 37th over to bowl his ninth over. He was welcomed with a hat-trick of fours from Shakib and conceded 14 runs in the over. Usama from the opposite end was hit for a six by Mehidya Hasan Miraz as he conceded 10 runs in the 38th over. Seeing his spinners being attacked from both ends, Babar Azam brought Wasim Jr. back into the attack. Wasim conceded just one run off his over. Pacers bowled from both ends as Haris too came into the attack. Haris dismissed Shakib after the Bangladeshi skipper tried to pull the short length but only managed to top-edge it. Agha Salman at mid-wicket completed the catch which at one point looked like it would bounce out of his hands. Iftikhar and Usama came back into the attack to finish their quota of 10 overs. Iftikhar finished with figures of 10-0-44-1 while Usama finished with 10-0-66-1.