AUS VS BAN T20I

2nd T20I, Mirpur, August 04, 2021, 05:30 PM

Australia
121/7(20.0ov)
Bangladesh
123/5(18.4ov)

Bangladesh beat Australia by 5 wickets

Best Batsmen
R
B
4S
6S
SR
45
42
5
0
107.14
Best Bowler
O
R
W
Econ
4
23
3
5.75
Man of the Match
Afif Hossain
Commentry
That is it from this match! Bangladesh go 2-0 up in the 5 match T20I series. They will be walking all over the moon right now. The Tigers now have the opportunity to seal the series in the third T20I. The third T20I will kick off on 6th August, Friday at 1800 local (1200 GMT). Till then, goodbye and take care!
Mahmudullah, the Bangladesh skipper, is up for a chat - He says that it feels good and Afif and Nurul showed a lot of maturity. Adds that losing a few early wickets creates tension in the dressing room but Afif and Nurul batted really well to get them through. Mentions that Mustafizur has always been excellent in such conditions and credits other bowlers as well for chipping in well. States that the only thing matters is to play for the country.
Afif Hossain, the PLAYER OF THE MATCH, is up for a chat - He says that he was just thinking to stay till the end. Adds that they had to stay calm and keep wickets in hand. Mentions that the plan was simple and says that it feels good to get a victory for the team. Tells that it is his job and it does not matter if you are old or young.
Matthew Wade, the Australia Captain, is up for a chat - He says that they struggled in the last four overs while batting today. He thinks that they had a decent start to the innings but could not cash in at the end. Feels that they could have got 130-140 but Bangladesh bowlers bowled really well. On their bowling, he says that Ashton Agar was good with the ball and so were all the other bowlers. He signs off by saying that it is their batting department that needs to step up.
Earlier in the day, Australia chose to bat and put on a below-par total of 121. They might even have not scored that total had it not been for Mitchell Marsh's 45 along with Moises Henriques's 30. Mustafizur Rahman was the star bowler picking 3 wickets for 23 runs. Bangladesh chased down the total courtesy to Nurul Hasan and the youngster Afif Hossain as they built a match-winning partnership of 56 which saw Bangladesh snatch a victory by 5 wickets.
Bangladesh will be on Cloud 9! Bangladesh lost two early wickets as Soumya Sarkar fell for a duck and Mohammad Naim too departed. Shakib Al Hasan came in with positive intent and smacked a hat-trick of boundaries. After that, Shakib Al Hasan and Mahedi Hasan joined hands and stitched a partnership of 37 before the former got out. The ploy of promoting Mahedi Hasan didn't work as he stayed in the middle for a while but to no cause. Bangladesh found themselves in a pickle when they lost their skipper for a duck. But Afif Hossain and Nurul Hasan controlled the innings well. They both didn't allow the runs to dry up. In the end, the youngsters made sure there weren't any more hiccups and they crossed the victory line with 8 balls to spare. The duo also stitched a match-winning partnership of 56 to go 2-0 up in the series.
Australia will be gutted! Australia needed quick wickets and Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood provided just that. Both of them scalped a wicket each early into the innings. After that Australia didn't manage to capitalize on the pressure they created as runs started coming in quickly for the opposition. Andrew Tye then came into the attack and removed Shakib Al Hasan. Wickets came in quick succession after that for Australia and they were right back in the game. But the 16th over bowled by Starc went for 13 runs, which settled the batters' nerves. The bowlers did put up a tough fight but 122 was too low of a target perhaps to defend and that's what just happened.
In over# 19
4
0
0
1
Josh Hazlewood 21/1(3.4)
18.4
4
FOUR! There it is! Bangladesh won the match by 5 wickets and they go 2-0 up in the series. It was a short ball, around off. Afif Hossain guides it over the keeper for a boundary. And Afif Hossain is delighted as he should be.
18.3
.
Good length ball, on off. Afif Hossain defends it towards point.
18.2
.
Good length ball, outside off. Afif Hossain looks to cut late but misses.
18.1
1
Short ball, around off. Nurul Hasan pulls it straight to the square fielder for one.
In over# 18
0
0
4
4
0
1wd
1
Andrew Tye 27/1(3)
17.6
.
Good length ball, around off. Afif Hossain defends it towards cover. Bangladesh are one hit away!
17.5
.
Slower ball, outside off. Afif Hossain swings hard but misses.
17.4
4
FOUR! Back-to-back boundaries! Short ball, around off. Afif Hossain just guides it behind the keeper for a boundary. 50 run-stand between the two batters as well.
17.3
4
FOUR! Full ball, on middle. Afif Hossain lofts it wide of the mid on fielder for a boundary. 8 runs needed now!
17.2
.
Good length ball, around off. Afif Hossain defends it off the front foot.
17.2
1wd
WIDE! Short and sprayed down the leg side. Afif Hossain looks to pull but misses. Called wide.