Brilliant Bangladesh take 2-0 lead

Afif Hossain and Nurul Hasan Sohan dragged Bangladesh out of the mud to take them home and beat Australia by five wickets in the second twenty20 international to take a 2-0 lead in the series.

After Bangladesh bowlers tied down Australia for only 121, Bangladesh were in trouble halfway through the chase as they lost half of their side for 67. Australia smelled blood, but Afif and Sohan had different ideas. Under immense pressure, they put together an unbeaten stand of 66 runs to take the Tigers home and take them one win away from a series win. Afif stayed unbeaten on 37 whilst Sohan scored an unbeaten 22.

Winning the toss, Aussie skipper Matthew Wade decided to bat first but their fate did not change much as Shak Mahedi Hasan sent Alex Carey back in the first over once again.

Mustafizur Rahman was the next to strike as he sent Josh Philippe’s leg stump cartwheeling in the final over of the powerplay. Mitchell Marsh then held onto one end, putting up a 57-run stand with Moises Henriques.

But then Shakib rattled Henriques’ off-stump to send him back for 30, and from there on, the Bangladesh bowlers put on a leash on the Aussie batsmen.

Marsh repeated his score from the first T20I as he was out for 45 when he edged one to the keeper off Shoriful Islam. Mustafiz then sent Matthew Wade and Ashton Agar in consecutive deliveries to push the visitors even further. The Aussies could only manage 31 runs off the last five overs and lost four wickets as they ended their inning on 121 for seven.

In reply, Bangladesh also had a tumble very early as Soumya Sarkar went for a duck in the third over. Shakib stepped in and hit Mitchell Starc for three consecutive fours, but Naim Sheikh saw his stumps shattered in the first ball of the next over as he had to go back for nine.

Shakib then put on a 37-run stand with Mahedi, who lived dangerously as many of his lofted shots fell just short of the fielder. But it was Shakib who was out next as he was deceived by a slower from Andrew Tye and saw his stumps rattled. And skipper Mahmudullah Riyad went back the next over for a duck as he dragged a wide delivery from Ashton Agar onto his stumps.

Mahedi’s luck ran out soon as he tried to step down and hit Adam Zampa out of the ground but missed it completely to get stumped, leaving Bangladesh in a spot of bother on 67-5.

But from there on, Afif and Sohan gave Australia no chance as they put together a composed partnership of 66 runs to take Bangladesh home with eight deliveries in hand.