Pakistan coach Mike Hesson was effusive in his praise of speedster Nahid Rana who claimed a fifer to deflate the men in green at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday. “It’s actually the first time I’ve seen him bowl live. I’ve seen him bowl a lot on TV. I thought he bowled really nicely, even in warm-ups. He looked like he had his timing going well. And he bowls, you know, he bowls hard into the surface, he presents the seam, he bowls cross seam.”
Rana’s exploits coupled with an unbeaten, quickfire 67 from Tanzid Hasan Tamim powered Bangladesh to a dominating nine-wicket win in the first ODI against Pakistan in Dhaka. After bundling Pakistan out for just 114, Bangladesh gunned the target down in 15.1 overs.
The Asian Tigers raced to 81/1 by the end of the Powerplay, with Tanzid bringing up his fifty off just 32 balls two overs later. Wasim Jr finally ended the 82-run stand by dismissing Najmul Hossain Shanto in the 14th over but Bangladesh had all but sealed the game by then. The result was confirmed two overs later, ironically with Wasim Jr sending a wide down the leg side.
Rana, who became the first Bangladeshi pace merchant to pick up the first five wickets of an innings, produced a fiery spell on a sporting wicket that is archetypally known for its slower surfaces. The youngster removed Sahibzada Farhan (27), Shamyl Hussain (4), Maaz Sadaqat (18), Mohammad Rizwan (10), and Salman Agha (5), reducing Pakistan to 69/5 to trigger a collapse.
“Honestly, I don’t think too much about speed,” he remarked. ”In international cricket, skill matters more than pure pace. So I am trying to work more on improving my skills,” he said adding that senior pros Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed guided him while he was operating.
“In the beginning, Fizz and Taskin were bowling. I was talking with them on the field about what was happening on the wicket. They told me that if you hit the right areas or maintain a proper line and length in certain spots, it becomes difficult for the batters to play. So I just tried to execute that on the field.”
Brief Scores: Pakistan 114 all-out in 30.4 overs (Faheem Ashraf 37, Sahibzada Farhan 27; Nahid Rana 5-24, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 3-29) lost to Bangladesh 115/2 in 15.1 overs (Tanzid Hasan Tamim 67*, Najmul Hossain Shanto 27; Shaheen Afridi 1-35) by 8 wickets.
