Rizwan, bowlers helped Pakistan to beat Bangladesh by 21 runs

Mohammad Rizwan's 78* off 50 helped Pakistan to beat Bangladesh by 21 runs in the first match of the T20I Tri-series.

As it happened:-

Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bowl first against Pakistan at Hagley Oval in Christchurch. Opener Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan gave Pakistan a strong start. Both added 52 runs for the first wicket but Babar Azam didn't looked in his elements as Mehidy Hasan got his wicket on 22(25).

Pakistan managed to score 71 runs in 10 overs. Shan Masood looked a bit scratchy in the starting but recovered well, he scored 31(22) before giving his wicket to Nasum Ahmed. Taskin Ahmed got the wicket of Haider Ali on 6(6) on the last ball of the 15th over. 

After scoring his half-century, Rizwan smashed Mustafizur for 16 runs in the 17th over. Iftikhar Ahmed and Asif Ali didn't contribute much to Pakistan's total. Rizwan's acceleration in the last four overs helped Pakistan to put up 167 runs on the scoreboard. 

Sabbir Rahman and Mehidy Hasan didn't start well for Bangladesh as they lost their first wicket on 25. Mohammad Wasim Jr got the wicket of Mehidy Hasan on 10(11). Sabbir also got out early, Haris Rauf dismissed him in 14(18).

Bangladesh put up a fifty-run stand for the third wicket but lost six wickets for 32 runs and only managed to score 146 runs for the loss of eight wickets and fell 21 runs short of the target.

" Disappointed, the wicket was good, but I think we need to improve in few areas. The bowlers did well, but we can tweak in a few areas. Liton and Afif batted well, so did Yasir, they're some positives" - Nurul Hasan

" I am very happy, winning gives us a lot of confidence, we started and finished. We are happy as a batting group, our plan was to get around 50 runs in the batting powerplay. Shan and Rizwan batted well, he stayed till the end and took us to a good score" - Babar Azam