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Bangladesh’s Nahid Rana (right) celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan’s Salman Agha during the first one-day international at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur Wednesday. (AFP)
Bangladesh pace sensation Nahid Rana claimed his first five-wicket haul in one-day internationals to lead his team to a crushing eight-wicket win over Pakistan in their opening match Wednesday.
Rana returned figures of 5-24 to skittle out Pakistan for 114, a total Bangladesh overhauled in 15.1 overs of the 50-over contest in Mirpur to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Opener Tanzid Hasan hammered an unbeaten 67 off 42 balls and put on a second-wicket partnership of 82 with Najmul Hossain Shanto, who made 27, in a statement win.
Saif Hassan fell early for four, while Litton Das remained unbeaten on three with Tanzid.
“It’s a pretty disappointing batting performance,” Pakistan coach Mike Hesson said after the game.
“I don’t think there’s any shying away from that. It wasn’t just the youngsters, we were exposed against some good bowling and we went into our shell a little bit, and we have to turn things around really quickly,” he added.
“The wicket was fine,” he said.
“It played pretty well. Nahid Rana was exceptional. Until he came into the game, we were ticking along okay, and he changed the game. He bowled into the wicket, created some variation and bounce, which he’s allowed to do when he’s bowling at that pace. And we didn’t respond as well as we needed to. So all credit to him.”
Earlier, Nahid laid the platform for victory with his outstanding spell in his seven overs to bowl out Pakistan for their lowest ODI total against Bangladesh, eclipsing the previous 161 during the 1999 World Cup.
The 23-year-old Nahid ripped through Pakistan’s top order, becoming the first Bangladeshi bowler to dismiss the opposition’s top five batters in an ODI innings.
Nahid removed Sahibzada Farhan (27), Shamyl Hussain (4), Maaz Sadaqat (18), Mohammad Rizwan (10) and Salman Agha (5) as Pakistan slumped to 69-5. He was ably supported by captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who took 3-29 with his off-spin. Senior quicks Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman took one wicket each. Number eight Faheem Ashraf offered brief resistance with his 37 before being dismissed by Mustafizur as Pakistan were eventually bowled out in 30.4 overs.
The performance marked a breakthrough in Nahid’s young ODI career since his debut in 2024.
He had taken only five wickets in his first five matches before producing the five-wicket haul in his sixth appearance.
Nahid is now only the second Bangladeshi bowler to take a five-wicket haul against Pakistan in ODIs after Mustafizur’s 5-75 during the 2019 World Cup.
BRIEF SCORES
Bangladesh 115 for 2 (Tanzid 67*) beat Pakistan 114 (Faheem 37, Farhan 27, Rana 5-24, Mehidy 3-29) by eight wickets
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