Bangladesh hobbled to a meagre 108-7 against a miserly Pakistan in the second Twenty20 of the three-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Saturday.
Nazmul Hossain Shanto top-scored with an eye-catching 40 off 34 balls and Afif Hossain chipped in with 20 off 21 balls but after their soft dismissals, the Bangladesh innings lost all momentum.
Both Nazmul and Afif fell to leg spinner Shadab Khan, who finished with 2-22 and pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, who replaced last match’s player of the match Hasan Ali, took 2-15.
Batting first, the hosts lost opener Saif Hassan for a golden duck off Shaheen and Mohammad Naim followed him to the dressing room in the next over by edging a ball to Fakhar Zaman at slip off Mohammad Wasim Jr.
Nazmul and Afif then repaired the initial damage by forming a 46-run partnership off 37 balls.
But the good spell for Bangladesh ended when Afif tried to reverse sweep Shadab in the first ball of the ninth over only to top edge the ball and give a simple catch to wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan.
Skipper Mahmudullah and Nazmul then added 28 runs off 27 balls for the fourth wicket before the former edged a ball to the keeper off Haris Rauf.
Nazmul chipped the ball straight to Shadab in the 14th over and after his dismissal, Bangladesh could only muster 24 runs off the remaining 40 deliveries where their lack of ammunition down the order got gravely exposed.
Bangladesh had earlier posted 127-7 in the first T20, which they lost by four wickets.
