Yet another game, yet another composed innings from Afif Hossain, who is slowly turning into the much-desired finisher that Bangladesh has been looking for. Courtesy of his knock of unbeaten 37 off 31 balls, Bangladesh were able to chase down a tricky total of 122 to register victory over Aussies in the second match of the five-match series going on between the two sides at the Sher-E-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka.
This was the second win for the Men in Green and Red after they defeated the Green and Gold in the first match of the series as well on Tuesday, August 03. With this victory, Bangladesh now leads the five-match series 2-0 and require just one win to clinch their first-ever series win against Australia in their cricketing history.
Chasing a small but dodgy total on a low and double paced Dhaka wicket, the Tigers didn’t get off to a stellar start and lost their two openers at the score of 21 in the fourth over. Mahedi Hasan, who was promoted as a pinch hitter to bat at number four lived a lot many lives before finally getting stumped.
Before his wicket, Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad had gotten out as well and with Mahedi’s dismissal, Bangladesh were staring at defeat at 67-5 before Afif Hossain partnered with wicket-keeper batsman Nur-Ul-Hasan. The duo added an unbeaten 56 off just 44 balls to take Bangladesh home, which looked really tough initially. 21-year-old Afif was adjudged Man of the Match for his efforts.
Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss, the Australian skipper changed his decision from the previous game and decided to bat first seeing the condition of the wicket. However, the change in the decision did not translate into a change in fortunes for Wade’s team as they managed to score only 121 runs in trier 20 overs.
Mitchell Marsh top-scored for Aussies with 45 off 42 balls while Moises Henriques scored 30 off 25 balls. Mustafizur Rahman was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh and finished with figures of 3-23 from his four overs.
The two teams will now meet in the third match after a day’s break on Friday, August 06 at the same venue.