Bangladesh batsmen again left some frustrating shows that guided them to a 21-run defeat against Pakistan in the opener of the tri-nation series in Christchurch on Friday.

Following the debacle of the top and middle orders, Yasir Ali Chowdhury smacked a stormy 21-ball 42 in the lower-middle order to take Bangladesh to 146-8, chasing down a moderate 167-5.

Apart from him, Liton Das made 31 off 22 balls.

Mohammad Wasin scalped 3, Mohammad Nawaz 2 and Shahnawaz Dhani, Haris Rouf, Shadab Khan took one wicket each.

For Pakistan, Mohammad Rizwan remained unbeaten on 78 off 50 balls while the second highest 31 off 22 balls for the side came from Shan Masood.

And for Bangladesh, Taskin Ahmed 2, Hasan Mahmud, Nasum Ahmed and Mehedy Hasan Miraz claimed one wicket each.

Sent to bat, Pakistan made an ideal start, forming 52 in the opening stand before Babar Azam was removed by Mehidy Hasan for 22.

In the second wicket stand, Rizwan and Shan Masood formed a 42 run partnership to overcome the initial damage. However, the pair couldn’t endure the go as Nasum claimed the latter impelling him to give a catch to Hasan Mahmud.

Despite losing the settled partners, Rizwan carried on single-handedly, adding 17, 25, 18, and 13 with Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahme, Asif Ali and Mohammad Newaz respectively to post 167-5 in the stipulated over.

In reply, Bangladesh also made a cautious start as they went unscratched until the fourth over, but eventually they couldn’t carry on the tempo as their makeshift opener Mehidy gave a catch to Asif Ali for 10 by Mohammad Wasim in the second delivery of the fifth over.

His partner, Sabbir Rahman also copied his steps, being caught and bowled by Haris Rouf for a sluggish 14 off 18 balls in the next over that mounted awful pressure for the side.

However, in the third wicket stand, a few cracking shots with boundaries and sixes from Liton Das and Afif Hossain helped them to conquer the pressure, but it returned once again when the former was excluded for 35 off 26 balls by Mohammad Newaaz in 12.3 overs.

New batsman Mosddek was also cut by the same bowler in the next delivery that stood him before the hat-trick but finally he couldn’t make it after Nurul Hasan cleared the ball pushing through the cover.

However, Bangladesh couldn’t come back to the game as they had been losing wickets at regular intervals with their in-form batsmen Afif Hossain and Nurul Hasan dismissed for 25 and 8 respectively.

In the lower middle-order, Yasir tried his best to hit five fours alongside two sixes but that wasn’t sufficient enough to breeze past the target.