Liton Das smashed a T20I career-best 73 as Bangladesh stunned world champions England to sweep the series 3-0 Tuesday in a massive upset in front of an ecstatic home crowd. In a major humiliation for England’s normally clinical white ball unit ahead of the 50-over World Cup in India later this year, Bangladesh won the third and final T20 in Dhaka by 16 runs. Bangladesh had taken the first game by six wickets and the second by four wickets to give the home side their first series victory over defending T20 and ODI World Cup champions England in any format.
‘It’s really disappointing obviously to lose but congratulations to Bangladesh. They outplayed us and they deserve their victory’, said England captain Jos Buttler. Set 159 to win after winning the toss and opting to bowl, England managed only 142 for the loss of six wickets despite a strong start as Taskin Ahmed took 2-26. Debutant Tanvir Islam dismissed Phil Salt for a duck in the very first over.
But Dawid Malan, who survived on review after being given out lbw for six, and Buttler looked to be cruising, putting England on track with a second-wicket stand of 95. Mustafizur Rahman added the first twist in the contest by removing Malan for 53, which brought him his 100th T20I wicket. Buttler was soon run out for 40 with a direct hit from Mehidy Hasan that brought Bangladesh firmly back into the contest and got the crowd going.
Buttler admitted that his dismissal ‘potentially cost (us) the game’. ‘(I was) really disappointed in myself for not diving and not making my ground. You know you should be fully committed to making that run’, Buttler said after the match. Taskin claimed the wickets of Moeen Ali (nine) and Ben Duckett (11) before Shakib Al Hasan got rid of Sam Curran (four) to complete the rout.
Put into bat, opener Liton had given Bangladesh a positive start, putting on 55 runs with Rony Talukdar in the opening stand. England’s first breakthrough came when Adil Rashid dismissed Rony for 24 but Najmul Hossain and Liton added 84 runs for the second wicket to keep up momentum. England missed a chance to dismiss Liton soon after the right-hander completed his ninth T20I half-century when Duckett dropped him on 51 at deep mid-wicket off Jofra Archer. Chris Jordan brought an end to Liton’s 57-ball innings, forcing him to give a catch to Salt at deep mid-wicket.
England did well to contain the Bangladeshi batsmen after Liton’s dismissal with only one boundary struck in the death overs. But Najmul, who survived on 40 after being given lbw off Jordan, ensured Bangladesh still had a decent score with his third 40-plus innings in the series. Jordan and Rashid finished with 1-21 and 1-23 for England respectively.
Bangladesh skipper Shakib said his batsmen had performed well on a tricky wicket. ‘We were really good in this T20 series, I thought we fielded exceptionally throughout these three matches. I think all the bowlers bowled well, they have been always good’, said Bangladesh skipper Shakib. ‘I thought we batted really well on a tricky wicket’, he said. ‘We knew we had to bowl well and… stick to our plans’. England won the preceding three-match one-day international series 2-1.
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