PPARENTLY, Pakistan were weighed down by the promise they had made. Salman Ali Agha`s men kept only half of it and paid the price as Bangladesh made history by clinching their first-ever T20 International series victory against Pakistan on Tuesday. Ahead of the series, Salman had vowed his charges would go ahead with their recently discovered `intent`, continuing to be aggressive while keeping in mind the conditions in Bangladesh. Although they had whitewashed the same opposition at home in a three-game series last month, Pakistan were unable to ensure the latter part this time; the tricky pitch in Dhaka undid their high-risk, high-reward batting strategy. In the opener, five of the top six were dismissed for single-digit scores. Bangladesh sent Pakistan packing for 110 and then cruised to the target. Pakistan tried to keep the series alive in the second fixture, but it was only thanks to Faheem Ashraf`s late blitz after yet another top-order disaster this time none of the top six reached double digits. Chasing 134, Pakistan were 30-6 before Faheem and the lower order took them to 125.

The Bangladesh series was coach Mike Hesson`s second time in charge of the team with Salman stressing that the selection was based on picking those who could play according to the newfound approach. It meant there was no place for batting stalwarts like Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. However, those picked ahead of them were guilty of playing careless shots, leading to the team`s downfall. That needs to be rectified with the T20 World Cup looming next year. Pakistan are due to play their matches of the global showpiece in Sri Lanka, where conditions will be similar to those in Bangladesh. Mike Hesson needs to work on a better strategy advising players on how to read the pitch better before playing their shots. The series loss is a setback for Pakistan, but if lessons are learnt, the team may improve in future assignments.