Scintillating Sarkar seals Bangladesh series whitewash

SoumyaSarkar-Cropped

Soumya Sarkar hit a maiden international century as Bangladesh completed a 3-0 one-day series whitewash of Pakistan with an eight-wicket victory on Wednesday.

The tourists' decision to bat after winning the toss looked to have been a good one when Azhar Ali (101) hit the first century by a Pakistan ODI captain since 2010 in Mirpur.

But the Pakistan batting line-up duly collapsed following his departure, going from 203-3 to 250 all out.

And Bangladesh, who sealed a first 50-over series win against Pakistan with victory on Sunday, needed just 39.3 overs to reach the modest target of 251, Sarkar playing the starring role with a talismanic innings of 127 not out.

Azhar and Sami Aslam (45) put Pakistan on the front foot with an opening stand of 91 before the latter was controversially ruled to have edged Nasir Hossain (1-37) to Mushfiqur Rahim.

Mohammad Hafeez (4) quickly followed Aslam back to the pavilion, only for Azhar - who found particular success with the cut shot - to put Pakistan in a promising position with a partnership of 98 with Haris Sohail (52).

Skipper Azhar's first ODI hundred was brought up at the end of the 37th over, yet the opener's exit at the hands of Shakib Al Hasan (2-34) prompted a flurry in which Pakistan lost seven wickets in just 62 balls.

From there the contest turned into nothing short of a procession for Bangladesh, Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal (64) putting on 145 for the first wicket in their reply.

Tamim's dismissal by Pakistan's only wicket-taker Junaid Khan (2-67) did little to halt the momentum of Bangladesh with Sarkar, who hit 19 boundaries, bludgeoning Mashrafe Mortaza's men to a dominant victory.

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