A fifty from Fakhar Zaman, along with a disciplined bowling performance, helped Pakistan take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the T20I series against Bangladesh with an eight-wicket win in Mirpur.
Bangladesh were again let down by their opening pair. Both Mohammad Naim (2) and Saif Hassan (0) fell inside two overs. Najmul Hossain Shanto (40) and Afif Hossain led the recovery with a 46-run stand for the second wicket.
Afif was on 20 when his attempted reverse sweep was caught by Mohammad Rizwan. Mahmudullah (12) looked rusty during his short stay, and was undone by Haris Rauf in the 13th over. The next set of batters could not do much, and Bangladesh finished on 108/7. In the last eight overs, they managed just 30 runs.
Mohammad Nawaz and Shaheen Shah Afridi, who replaced Hasan Ali, picked two wickets each.
In response, Babar Azam fell to Mustafizur Rahman in the third over, but Rizwan and Fakhar added 85 for the second wicket to take the game away from the hosts. When Rizwan got out on 39, Pakistan needed 12 runs. Fakhar remained unbeaten on 57 as Pakistan completed the chase in 15.3 overs.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 108/7 in 20 overs (Najmul Hossain Shanto 40; Shaheen Afridi 2-15) lost to Pakistan 109/2 in 18.1 overs (Fakhar Zaman 57*; Mustafizur Rahman 1-12) by 8 wickets with 11 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Fakhar Zaman.