Tigers beat Australia by 10 runs in 3rd T20
UNB, Dhaka: With three consecutive victories, Bangladesh won their first-ever bilateral series against Australia with two matches to play, with the latest win came on Friday by 10 runs.
Australia needed to score 22 runs off the last six balls bowled by Mahedi Hasan, but they only managed 11. Alex Carey smashed a six off the first ball of the last over, but they couldn’t continue on that.
Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first and scored 127 for nine wickets in 20 overs.
In reply, Australia made a good start despite losing the first wicket inside eight runs, with Nasum Ahmed removing Matthew Wade for one.
The initial blow was erased by the second wicket-stand off 63 runs shared by Ben McDermott, who got the chance in the XI for the first time in this series and Mitchell Marsh.
Removing Ben McDermott for 35, Shakib Al Hasan kept the Tigers in the match and they never lost track again.
When Australia needed 34 off 18 balls, Shoriful Islam removed Mitchell Marsh for 51. A superb slow-delivery did the trick for the tall left-arm pacer. Marsh lifted to the long-on area, and Mohammad Naim came in to take an easy catch. Marsh’s dismissal came as a big blow for Australia.
But in the same over, Shoriful leaked as many as 12 runs. In the last 12 balls, Australia’s target came down to 23 runs. In the 18th over, Mustafizur Rahman conceded only one run, which eventually pushed Australia at the bay.
Eventually, Australia ended up on 117 for four wickets in 20 overs.
For Bangladesh, Mustafizur was tremendous with the ball. She conceded only nine runs in four overs while Shoriful conceded 29 runs, but scalped two wickets which turned the game towards Bangladesh. Nasum and Shakib bagged one wicket each.
Before this series, Bangladesh never won a T20I match against the Aussies.
Earlier, Bangladesh failed to lay a good foundation as both the openers were dismissed inside 2.1 overs.
Mohammad Naim, who did well in the first match, fell prey to Josh Hazlewood for one. Soumya Sarkar failed to come out of his batting woes once again as he fell for two.
In the third wicket stand, Mahmudullah Riyad and Shakib Al Hasan added 44 of 36 balls. Smashing Mitchell Marsh for two consecutive fours, Shakib was suggesting to play a big innings but failed to continue on a good run.
Off the first ball of the ninth over by Adam Zampa, Shakib lifted the ball over the long-off area, and Ashton Agar took an easy catch.
After Shakib’s dismissal, Afif Hossain came in and scored 19 off 13 balls with one four and one six. But once again, Afif failed to continue on a good run what he did in the second match of the series. He dismissed run-out in this match.
Shamim Hossain, Nurul Hasan Sohan and Mahedi Hasan also failed to do well with the bat.
For Australia, Nathan Ellis took three wickets while Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa took two wickets each.
The fourth and fifth matches of the series will take place on August 7 and nine at the same venue.
