Bangladesh earned a thumping 60-run victory, their second-biggest in terms of runs, against Australia in the fifth and final T20I on Monday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
While chasing a target of 123, Australia tumbled for 62— their lowest total in T20Is now. Their previous lowest in the format was 79 for 10 against England in 2005. Australia were dismissed in 13.4 overs bowing to brilliant bowling by Bangladesh. They never lost all of their wickets in an international cricket faster than this innings.
Australia lost their last seven wickets for only 14 runs going down from 48 for three.
With the win in Monday’s game, Bangladesh sealed the series 4-1. It was Bangladesh’s first-ever series win against Australia in any format of international cricket. Before this series, Bangladesh faced Australia in four matches but lost all of them.
In the fifth win, Shakib Al Hasan played the pivotal role taking four wickets conceding only nine runs in 3.4 overs. He gave away 50 in the previous game in four overs— his worst bowling figures in T20Is— and subsequently, Bangladesh lost the match by three wickets.
Along with Shakib, Mohammad Saifuddin, who was playing his first game in the series, also shone with the ball as he bagged three wickets conceding only 12 runs in three overs.
Along the way, Shakib grabbed 100 wickets in T20Is as only the second bowler after Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga. Like the Sri Lankan, Shakib also took 83 innings in 84 matches to reach the milestone.
Bangladesh won the toss in this game and opted to bat first with two changes— overlooking Shamim Hossain and Shoriful Islam to pave way for Mosaddek Hossain Saikat and Saifuddin.
Mohammad Naim and Mahedi Hasan put up a 42-run opening stand which helped the hosts to go for a big total. But on the sluggish surface, Bangladesh only managed 122 runs.
Naim was the highest-run getter scoring 23 runs while Shakib scored 19 while Soumya Sarkar and Mahedi scored 16 and 13 respectively.
For Australia, Nathan Ellis and Daniel Christian took two wickets each.
Shakib won the player of the match and player of the series awards while Saifuddin was named the most valuable player.
In the first match of the series, Bangladesh had put only 131 runs while batting first. Despite a low score, the hosts managed to win the match by 23 runs. In the second match, they had chased down a target of 122 runs with five wickets in hand, and in the third match, they defended a total of 127 runs and won by 10 runs.
The winning streak came to an end in the fourth match when the hosts ended up scoring only 104 runs while batting first. They still fought valiantly and lost in the 19th over.
But with the thumping win in the fifth match, the Bangladesh team almost erased the memory of the only defeat in the series.
The Tigers will now take on the New Zealand cricket team in early September. The Blackcaps are scheduled to reach Bangladesh in the fourth week of August. They will play a five-match T20I series against the Tigers.
Source: United News of Bangladesh