DARWIN: Pakistan Shaheens bagged a hard-fought 148-run win over Bangladesh ‘A’ in the last hour of play on the final day of the first four-day match at the DXC Arena in Darwin on Monday.

Shaheens took all 10 Bangladesh wickets in 79.2 overs on the day with spinner Mehran Mumtaz and pacer Shahnawaz Dahani sharing seven among them.

Requiring 408 runs to win or to bat out the day to save the game, the Bangladeshi outfit’s opening batters started the day by bringing up fifty-run opening partnership continuing from the overnight score of 20-0. Dahani struck to remove Shadman Islam (26 off 65) in the 22nd over.

Shaheens’ bowling attack toiled for another 21.1 overs when Mehran eked out the vital scalp of Parvez Hossain Emon, who had faced 138 balls for his 57 runs, hitting six fours and two sixes. Mehran soon trapped Aich Mollah for a paltry four in the 50th over.

For the next 12.2 overs Amite Hasan (71 off 102) and Shahadat Hossain put on 57 runs ringing the alarm bells for Shaheens. Dahani made much needed inroads in the Bangladesh ‘A’ batting by removing well-set Amite in the 63rd over and Ariful Islam in the 65th over with a little over two hours’ time left in the day.

With Shaheens five wickets away from triumph, Mehran Mumtaz landed a double blow in 71st over to end Shahadat’s (42 off 62) rearguard effort and removed Hasan Murad for a five-ball duck leaving Bangladesh ‘A’ 221-7.

It took Shaheens 15.2 more overs to remove the remaining three batters as Ripon Mondol resisted with an unbeaten 43 off 30 balls hitting seven fours and Mahidul Islam chipped in with a 66-ball 15 with Bangladesh ‘A’ scoring 279 all out in 86.2 overs.

Mehran and Dahani collected figures of 4-84 and 3-57, respectively. Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Ali picked up one wicket each.

The second four-day match will start on Friday at the same venue.

Scores in brief:

PAKISTAN SHAHEENS 467-3 (decl.) in 96.1 overs (Mohammad Huraira 218, Kamran Ghulam 100 not out, Sahibzada Farhan 66, Umar Amin 54; Ripon Mondol 2-84, Hasan Murad 1-130) and 226-3 (decl.) in 47.2 overs (Omair Bin Yousuf 100 not out, Mubasir Khan 95; Ripon Mondol 1-38, Mukidul Islam 1-47); BANGLADESH ‘A’ 266 in 76.2 overs (Shadman Islam 88, Aich Mollah 70, Shahadat Hossain 36, Rejaur Rahman Raja 32; Khurram Shahzad 6-72, Mohammad Ali 2-64, Shahnawaz Dahani 1-50) and 279 in 86.2 overs (Amite Hasan 71, Parvez Hossain Emon 57, Shahadat Hossain 42; Mehran Mumtaz 4-84, Shahnawaz Dahani 3-57).

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2024