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Tanvin Tamim
Fast bowler Nahid Rana produced a fiery, record-breaking spell to set the tone for a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over Pakistan in the One Day International series opener at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. With the ball, Nahid left the opposition reeling; with the bat, the Tigers wrapped up the chase in just over 15 overs, asserting their dominance from start to finish.
Chasing a modest target, Bangladesh reached 115 for 2 in 15.1 overs with consummate ease. Tanzid Hasan Tamim was the star, blasting 67 off 42 balls, striking seven fours and five sixes, while Najmul Hossain Shanto contributed a composed 27. Saif Hassan fell cheaply for four, and Litton Kumar Das remained unbeaten on three as the hosts wrapped up the chase with a little less than 35 overs to spare.
The victory was built on the back of Nahid’s breathtaking bowling display. The visitors were bowled out for 114, their lowest ODI total against Bangladesh, eclipsing the previous low of 161 set in the 1999 Cricket World Cup.
Nahid’s thunderbolt spell dismantled the top-order, claiming the first five wickets of the innings — a first in Bangladesh’s ODI history. Sahibzada Farhan (27), Shamyl Hussain (four), Maaz Sadaqat (18), Mohammad Rizwan (10) and Salman Agha (five) all fell to the right-arm pacer as Pakistan slumped to 69 for five, from 41 without loss, triggering a full-scale collapse.
Nahid finished with superb figures of five for 24 in seven overs, supported by Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s three wickets and one each from Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman.
A brief resistance from Faheem Ashraf (37) was insufficient to lift the visitors from their mire.
The performance marked a major milestone in Nahid’s young ODI career. Having taken only five wickets across his first five matches, he struck five times in his first five overs in this sixth appearance, becoming only the second Bangladeshi to claim a five-wicket haul against Pakistan, after Mustafizur’s five for 75 in the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
It was also the first five-for by a Bangladeshi pacer at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in nearly 11 years, the last being Mustafizur’s back-to-back five-wicket hauls against India in 2015, while the most recent home soil five-for by a Bangladeshi paceman came in 2023, when Hasan Mahmud took five for 32 against Ireland at Sylhet.