Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah and left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman played the starring roles as the Asian giants rewrote history books on Wednesday, winning a bilateral series over Australia for the first time. The hosts won by 10 runs in the third T20I in Dhaka and sealed the five-match series with an unassailable 3-0 lead over the visitors.
Winning the toss and opting to bat first on another slow, spin-friendly track at the Shere Bangla, Mahmudullah’s calm and composed knock of 52 off 53 deliveries helped Bangladesh reach a score of 127/9 in 20 overs.
While Bangladesh’s total and Mahmudullah’s effort would have seemed disappointing in usual circumstances, the skipper played a well-compiled innings given the conditions on the offer to the bowlers.
It said something of Mahmudullah’s innings that only one other Bangladeshi batter – Shakib Al Hasan (26 off 17) – breached the 20-run mark.
For the Australians, Josh Hazlewood (2/16) and Adam Zampa (2/24) were the picks of the bowlers. But the night will be remembered for the final over that speedster Nathan Ellis delivered, as he became the first male cricketer in the history of T20I cricket to bag a hat-trick on debut. After three nervy and expensive overs, Ellis found his mojo and dismissed Mahmudullah and lower-order batsmen Mustafizur and Mahedi Hasan off consecutive balls to be etched in the record books.
Chasing 128, the Australians lost their stand-in captain Matthew Wade (1) very early in the piece, before Ben McDermott and Mitchell Marsh went about solidifying the innings with a slow but steady partnership of 63 runs off 71 balls. The idea was to keep the wickets in hand if runs don’t come by and time the end-overs flourish correctly.
However, those plans were ruined in a matter of two successive overs where the visitors lost McDermott (35 off 41) and No.5 Moises Henriques (2). However, Marsh kept his guard and stitched a partnership with Alex Carey (20 off 15), reaching his half-century (51 off 47) along the way.
But the asking rate had now climbed up significantly, with Australia requiring 34 off the final three overs. And to make their matters worse, Marsh got out in the 18th over facing left-arm paceman Shoriful Islam (2/29). The next over saw Mustafizur at his very best, as he gave away only a single run to finish with outstanding figures of 0/9. That over tilted the scales decisively in Bangladesh’s favour, leaving Australia 22 to get off the last six balls.
Spinner Mahedi Hasan then impressively defended his team’s total after early hiccups in the 20th over, where he went for a six off the first ball and even bowled a no-ball for height thereafter but eventually limited the damage down to only 11 runs and sealed the victory for his team.
Apart from Mahmudullah and Shoriful’s spells and Hasan’s valiant final over, Nasum Ahmed (1/19) and Shakib Al Hasan (1/22) also bowled superbly for Bangladesh.
Brief scores
Bangladesh 127/9 in 20 overs (Mahmudullah 52, Shakib Al Hasan 26; Nathan Ellis 3/34, Josh Hazlewood 2/16) beat Australia 117/4 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 51, Ben McDermott 35; Shoriful Islam 2/29, Nasum Ahmed 1/19) by 10 runs.
