Bangladesh clinch historic series win over England

 

Sports Live: Bangladesh won their first-ever bilateral series against England in any format when they beat the world champions by four wickets in the second Twenty20 international at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday.

This was also Bangladesh's first-ever bilateral T20I series against England. Mehidy Hasan Miraz shone with ball and bat as he clinched a career-best 4-12 to help the Tigers bowl out England for 117 before hitting 20 off 16 balls as Bangladesh raced to 120-6 in 18.5 overs.

Najmul Hossain Shanto top-scored with 46 not out for Bangladesh, who have now won at least one series in one format against all Test-playing countries. The hosts won the first match of the series by six wickets in Chattogram.

Sent into bat first, England were rarely in the contest after losing their way in the middle of the innings as their batsmen struggled to cope with a low and slow wicket in Mirpur.

Shakib Al Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, and Mustafizur Rahman each complemented Mehidy with a wicket apiece.

For the visitors, Ben Duckett top-scored with 28 while Phil Salt made 25 off 19 balls.

Taskin dismissed opener Dawid Malan for five, but Salt and Moeen Ali showed positive intent to put on 34 runs for the second wicket.

England then lost Salt, skipper Jos Buttler (four), and Ali (15) in consecutive overs to ruin their prospect of putting up a big total.

Mehidy then struck twice in one over to dismiss Sam Curran (12) and Chris Woakes (0) to deny England a late recovery.

In reply, Bangladesh lost both openers, Liton Das (nine) and Rony Talukdar (nine), cheaply, but young Towhid Hridoy made 17 to steady the innings.

Shanto and Mehidy put Bangladesh in charge with a 41-run stand. England sniffed a chance with a few late wickets as Jofra Archer wreaked havoc to finish with 3-13.

However, Shanto shocked the visitors with his unbeaten 47-ball innings which featured three boundaries.

Taskin completed the win with consecutive fours off Chris Jordan in the nineteenth over. Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan lauded the team's effort for the historic win.

‘They had a very good start, but we kept our nerve, a very good team effort. In a tricky game like this, it was important to keep our nerve. Shanto ... Mehidy, a superb innings for the team,’ said Shakib during the post-match presentation ceremony.

England captain Jos Buttler credited Bangladesh for the win and was proud of his charges despite losing the match and the series.

‘It was a different game of T20, credit to Bangladesh for out-playing us. No batter ever wants to get out but a tough wicket to start your innings on, We needed someone to stick with Ben Duckett.

Outstanding bowling performance, creating pressure, and defending a low score. Proud of everyone's efforts,’ he said. The third and final match of the series will be held at the same ground on Tuesday.

Dhaka, 12 March (campuslive24.com)//BSC

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