Young Tigers make winning start in T20s

Bangladesh Under-19 National Team made a winning start to their two-match Twenty20 series against Pakistan U19 in Multan on Wednesday as the Young Tigers claimed a win by five wickets.

Batting first, Pakistan put 143-8 on board. In reply, an unbeaten 41 from Shihab James and Mahfuzur Rahman took Bangladesh over the line to take the lead in the series.

Bangladesh earlier won the One-Day series 2-1.

Winning the toss, Bangladesh skipper Ahrar Amin put Pakistan into bat first. The Pakistani batters failed to put together any meaningful partnerships as they lost wickets on a constant basis and ended on 143-8.

Opener Basit Ali top-scored with 36. For Bangladesh, Tanveer Ahmed took three wickets, while Mahfuzur picked up two. Inasi Siddique, Parvez Jibon, and Jishan Alam picked up one wicket each.

In reply, Bangladesh openers Jishan and Ashiqur Rahman brought them a good start as they put together 38 runs for the opening stand.

But then a mini-collapse saw Bangladesh down to 69-4, with Jishan (24), Ashiqur (16), Muhammad Sohag (5), and Ahrar (13) all back in the hut, with the last two being run outs.

But Shihab and Mahfuzur took charge, putting together a 62-run stand to take Bangladesh close to victory.

Mahfuzur was out for 38 off 25 balls, with Bangladesh 13 runs away from victory. Shihab then took the team over the line with three balls to spare.

Mahfuzur was awarded the player of the match for his all-round contributions with both bat and ball.