Bangladesh out to whitewash Pakistan in T20 series

After taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20 series, Bangladesh have vowed to make it 3-0 against Pakistan to take sweet revenge for their ignominious whitewash during the Pakistan tour last May.

In a bid to materialize the dream, they will take on the visitors in the third and final match of the series tomorrow (Thursday) at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

The match will start at 6pm and will be aired live on T Sports and Nagorik TV.

Bangladesh won the first match by seven wickets before clinching a thrilling 8-run victory in the second game - marking their first-ever series victory against Pakistan.

They saw the other side of the coin during the Pakistan tour in May when they were whitewashed in a three-match series without much resistance.

Since then, Bangladesh regrouped well to win four straight matches in this format - two against Sri Lanka and two against Pakistan. The first two wins helped them come from behind to seal their first-ever T20 series against Sri Lanka.

They maintained that winning streak against Pakistan for a further boost that made them upbeat about sweeping the series.

"The target obviously is to win the last match," said Jaker Ali Anik, the batter who played a stubborn 39-ball 56 to script Bangladesh's series-confirming victory.

Jaker at the same time guarded against any complacency, saying that they are not taking Pakistan lightly despite winning the series with relative ease.

"There is no way that we'll take Pakistan lightly. They fought really hard in the second game but at the end we won the game."

"We have won four matches in a row and this will give us the confidence ahead of the last match against Pakistan."

Ahead of the Asia Cup, which will be held from September 5-21, the third match against Pakistan is likely to be Bangladesh's last match in international cricket before the tournament.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), though, is trying to arrange some matches for its cricket team in August after India postponed their tour here for a three-match ODI and T20 series.

On paper, however, the third match against Pakistan is the last chance for them to decide on the best team combination and test the reserve bench. In this sense, Bangladesh may come up with some experiments in the third match.

Pakistan will be the seventh cricket team and the third top-flight nation to be whitewashed by Bangladesh if they succeed. Bangladesh earlier swept series against Ireland, England, West Indies, Zimbabwe, United Arab Emirates, and Afghanistan in T20 series.

Bangladesh have so far played 24 matches against Pakistan, winning five and losing 19.

Bangladesh squad: Liton Das (capt), Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Mohammad Naim, Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rishad Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mohammad Saifuddin.

Pakistan squad: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, and Sufyan Moqim.