Home ›› 13 Mar 2023 ›› Front
The match swung from here to there and here again. It was Bangladesh’s match, and in moments, it felt like it could be England’s, that the hosts were letting a golden opportunity go to waste, like they have done so many times.
In the end, Najmul Hossain Shanto managed to hold his nerve and so did Taskin Ahmed, and the Tigers came out on top at their den, beating the current World Champions by four wickets in the second Twenty20 International of the three-match series to clinch their first-ever series win over the English.
It was Mehidy Hasan Miraz who set up the win and Najmul who finished it with his composed unbeaten 46 off 47 balls. Mehidy’s brilliance with the ball, where he picked up four wickets giving away just 12 runs allowed Bangladesh to pack England for 117, the visitors’ lowest when batting the full 20 overs.
In reply, Bangladesh lost both openers, Liton Das (9) and Rony Talukdar (9), within the powerplay, and Towhid Hridoy (17) just after the drinks interval in the middle.
However, Najmul and Miraz paired up to add 41, which took Bangladesh to the brink but a couple of brain-fade shots from skipper Shakib Al Hasan (0) and Afif Hossain (2) tilted the game into balance again as the Tigers needed 13 runs off the final two overs.
Nonetheless, Najmul kept his nerve to hit Chris Jordan for a four in the first ball of the penultimate over, and then a double and a single eased down the equation for Bangladesh to six runs from 10 balls.
From there, Taskin hit two boundaries to seal the deal, and both he and Najmul let out roars following the win, epitomising the value of the series against the world’s best.
“We have won a series against England, that too in T20Is. We never won a series against them. They are the World Champions. So, of course, it feels great to beat them. This is a big achievement for us to win the series,” Player of the Match Miraz said in the post-match press conference.
“Obviously disappointed to lose the series. Credit to Bangladesh, they played well,” England skipper Jos Buttler said. The pitch offered some tricks down the road but it looked like a good one to bat on as England picked up 50 from their powerplay, losing only Dawid Malan’s (5) wicket.
However, the next three overs turned crucial as Bangladesh managed three wickets in that period. Shakib got rid of Phil Salt (25), who gave an easy return catch trying to deal with a turning delivery before Hasan Mahmud produced one of the deliveries of the series as he bowled Buttler (4) with a perfect yorker.
In the next over, Moeen Ali (15) tried to hoick Miraz and gave a simple catch to substitute fielder Shamim Hossain at deep mid-wicket.
Ben Duckett (28) and Sam Curran (12) tried to stop the collapse as they added 34 runs for the fifth wicket but in came Miraz and got rid of the latter first and then Chris Woakes (0), both of them being stumped as they failed to deal with the guile of the off-spinner. Chris Jordan was Miraz’s final victim of the day as he was caught at long-on trying to go big.
The last three overs produced only 17 runs for England as they lost their remaining three wickets, with Duckett being the first to go. He tried to slog Mustafizur Rahman but only skied it, which Najmul took brilliantly diving in. Then, in the last over, both Rehan Ahmed and Jofra Archer tried to steal a single when they missed the ball but Liton was quick to it and ensured that they were run out at the non-strikers’ end.
And then, Bangladesh made a tough job out of the small target but managed to find the win with apparent ease according to the scorecard as they won with seven balls in hand.
