Bangladesh have come roaring again as they beat the mighty Australia by 23 runs in the first T20 match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Tuesday. Spinner Nasum Ahmed’s brilliant four-fer crumbled the Aussies at 108 as they were chasing a mere total of 131 set by the Tigers. Bangladesh now lead the series by 1-0.
This is also Bangladesh’s first ever win against Australia in the T20 format and the Tigers have walked home in style. It was an incredible effort from Bangladesh as Australia choked against spin and Bangladesh's plethora of slow deliveries on what was a challenging surface. Australia never looked in control of this chase at any point, not even when Mitch Marsh, the only lone fighter for the Aussies, appeared to be revving up.
Defending a mere 131, Tigers started off brilliantly with the bowl as spinners Mahedi Hasan and Nasum Ahmed removed Alex Carey (0) and Josh Philippe (9), which left Australia struggling at 10/2 after 1.4 overs. Then came Shakib al Hasan in the third over and immediately bowled Moises Henriques for naught. Tigers were dominant with the bowl right from the word go. After the early storm, skipper Matthew Wade and batsman Mitchell Marsh were rebuilding the innings. But Bangladesh bowlers kept it tight and Aussies struggled to pick runs quickly. Bangladesh piled on more pressure on the Aussies and Nasum scalped his second by dismissing Wade, which left Australia reeling at 49/4 after 9.4 overs.
Things were looking all doom and gloom for the Aussies as another Aussie batsman Ashton Agar was out hit wicket off Nasum’s delivery. For Aussies, Marsh was leading the batting front and hitting some shots as wickets were falling at the other end. However, he was also removed by brilliant Nasum as Aussies were crumbling at 84/6 after 15.3 overs. After that they just couldn’t cope with the Tigers bowling and succumbed at 108. Nasum was the peak of the bowlers as he ended with figures of 19/4 in 4 allotted overs. Pacer Shoriful Islam and Mustfizur Rahman grabbed 2.
Earlier, after winning the toss Australia chose to field first. Tigers’ openers Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Naim were kept quiet in the powerplay by Australian pacers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. In the 3.3 overs, Hazlewood brought the breakthrough for Australia as he removed Soumya Sarkar by rattling his stumps. Naim alongside Shakib al Hasan was batting smoothly and tried to score runs.
However, Naim (30) failed to utilise his good start and was bowled out by spinner Adam Zampa after trying to play a premeditated reverse sweep. Tigers were struggling at 37/2 after 7 overs.
Two experienced campaigners, Shakib and skipper Mahmudullah were at the crease and tried to increase the slow run rate, which was under 6 after 10 overs. However, after playing a 20-run cameo Mahmudullah returned to the pavilion. Shakib was the lone fighter for the team as he did not get proper support at the other end. Tigers’ batsmen never got going and failed to put up a fight against some brilliant Aussie bowling.
Shakib’s 33-ball 36 (highest score for Bangladesh batsman) and Mohammad Afif’s 17-ball 23 in the end propelled Bangladesh to a respectable total of 131/7. For Australia, Hazlewood was the peak of the bowlers by scalping 3 wickets. Starc grabbed 2, while Zampa and Andrew Tye grabbed one wicket each.