Nahid Rana fifer inspires Bangladesh to 104-run win

After never having beaten Pakistan in a Test match until 2024, Bangladesh have now won three in a row against them, and this one - their first against Pakistan at home - was decided late into the final session of the final day in Mirpur. Nahid Rana, the pace sensation whose reputation has grown with every spell he bowls, finished with 5 for 40 as the hosts claimed victory by 104 runs to take a 1-0 series lead, in a Test that twisted and lurched all the way to the end.

All results were still alive going into the final session, Pakistan needing 152 runs with seven wickets in hand, and the outcome of the game rested, more than anything, on Abdullah Fazal. The debutant had reached 66, batting with a composure that belied his inexperience, and he and Salman Ali Agha had added 48 for the fourth wicket to push Pakistan's chase of 268 deep into the afternoon. On a wearing final-day pitch with inconsistent bounce, a Pakistan win had long seemed improbable, but they could at least give themselves an outside chance, and with bad light hovering on the horizon, a draw was not beyond them either.

Five balls into the final session, it all came apart. Taijul Islam found a delivery that gripped and turned viciously, beating Fazal's inside edge on the defence and crashing into his pad. Umpire Richard Kettleborough was unmoved, but the review told a different story - three reds, and the debutant's brave vigil was over. As it tends to happen when the pivotal wicket falls, another followed at once. Taskin Ahmed struck in the very next over as Salman threw his hands at a wide full ball and sent an edge flying to one of two gully fielders tactically placed.

Mohammad Rizwan survived his first scare on review, overturning an LBW decision off the very first ball he faced, and he and Saud Shakeel negotiated their way through to the drinks break without further alarm. Pakistan still needed 119 with five wickets remaining. A win had faded, but a draw still flickered as a possibility. But then Bangladesh turned back to Rana.

He had been expensive in his first spell, giving away 30 in five overs. But he had taken a wicket and was about to add to it in emphatic fashion. He drew Shakeel into a loose drive and had him caught behind. Then, in his next over, came a peach - a nip-backer at 147 kilometres per hour that Rizwan simply did not read, shouldering arms only to watch in disbelief as it crashed into his stumps. Taijul trapped Hasan Ali lbw with an arm ball, and Rana finished the job, nipping one back into Noman Ali and winning another LBW on review before having Shaheen Afridi caught to complete a famous win.

Earlier, going into the final session, the game had been delicately poised, and it had been Fazal, above all, who had kept Pakistan in it. The morning had begun with Bangladesh still at the crease, adding 88 runs in 20 purposeful overs to set a target of 268, powered by captain Najmul Hossain Shanto's 87. Pakistan began their chase just before Lunch and Imam-ul-Haque fell before the interval, edging Taskin to the cordon, but Fazal emerged from the wreckage and immediately took the attack to Bangladesh's bowlers in the second session. He hit two boundaries off Mehidy, ad then three in a row off Rana to signal his intentions.

Mehidy struck back to bowl Azan Awais for 15, and Rana removed Shan Masood cheaply, caught behind for two, but Fazal batted on. He reached his fifty with an upper-cut off Ebadot, becoming the sixth Pakistan batter to score fifties in both innings of a debut Test, and with Salman alongside him, Pakistan pushed the game into the final session still breathing. Against an inspired opponent, it was just not enough.

Brief scores: Bangladesh 413 & 240/9 decl (Najmul Hossain Shanto 87, Mominul Haque 56; Hasan Ali 3-52) beat Pakistan 386 & 163 (Abdullah Fazal 66; Nahid Rana 5-40) by 104 runs.