Bangladesh whitewashed Pakistan in an ODI series for the first time after winning the third match by an emphatic eight wickets on Wednesday. Bangladesh went into the match having already achieved a first ODI series win against Pakistan, and made more history. Opener Soumya Sarkar struck his maiden century as Bangladesh raced to 251-2 in the 40th over, after bowling out Pakistan for 250 in 49. Soumya was not out on 127 off 110 balls, smashing 13 fours and six sixes.
Fellow opener Tamim Iqbal, who hit consecutive centuries in the last two matches, made 64 to take his run tally to 312, the highest for a Bangladeshi in any bilateral series, and the third highest in any three-match series. Tamim hit eight fours and one six in his 76-ball innings. Tamim and Soumya shared 145 in their opening stand, to set the platform for Bangladesh’s 10th clean sweep in its history.
Fast bowler Junaid Khan (2-67) dismissed Tamim and Mahmudullah (4) in the space of nine runs to leave Bangladesh 154-2. Both of the batsmen perished to fuller length deliveries. However, Bangladesh effortlessly pushed on, as Mushfiqur Rahim joined Soumya to pile the misery on the listless Pakistani bowling attack. They shared an undefeated 97-run partnership, and Rahim fittingly hit the winning boundary off Junaid.
Earlier, Pakistan captain Azhar Ali spearheaded his side’s effort with 101, but Pakistan wasted a good start, and lost its last seven wickets for 47 runs.
Brief Scores — Pakistan: 250 all out in 49 overs (Azhar Ali 101, Haris Sohail 52; Arafat Sunny 2/43, Shakib al hasan 2/34) lose to Bangladesh: 251/2 in 39.3 overs (Soumya Sarkar 127*, Tamim Iqbal 64) by 8 wickets.