Bangladesh finished arguably the most mortifying series on Saturday night when they won by 10 wickets against the USA but lost the 3-match series by 2-1. USA, who are currently 19th in the ICC T20I ranking, have registered their only 2nd and 3rd wins against a test-playing side in the 2024 US vs BAN T20I series. Let’s take a look at the possible reasons for the miserable performance of the Tigers.
How the Series Went
The 3-match series was won by the USA by 2-1. They wrapped up the series in the first two games after winning by 5 wickets and 6 runs. The stats table suggests that the best performers of the series are from Bangladesh. Yet the US team got a better outcome than the Bangladesh team in this series.
The first game saw Bangladesh batting first and registering a score of 153. It was a good recovery considering Bangladesh were 65/2 after 10 overs. Tawhid Hridoy’s 58(47) and Mahmudullah Riyad’s 31(22) gave Bangladesh a fighting total. Steven Taylor picked 2 wickets for 9 runs in his 3 overs. In response, the USA were 99/5 after the 16th over needing 55 off 24 deliveries. From here, Harmeet Singh scored a blistering 33 off 13 and made a partnership of 62(31) with Corey Anderson (34 off 25) to ensure the victory of the USA and bagged the man of the match award. Mustafizur Rahman picked up a couple of wickets but gave away 41 runs.
Read more: Third T20I v USA: Bangladesh break records in consolation win that fails to console
The 2nd game saw an even poorer Bangladesh side. The bowlers might have done a good job restricting the USA for 144. But the batters didn’t complement them. Bangladesh needed 26 runs from 24 balls at one stage with 5 wickets in hand. But a brilliant 9-ball spell from Ali Khan which saw him grabbing 3 wickets for only 9 runs was enough to hand USA the victory. He picked the man of the match in this game.
The 3rd game was a mere formality but saw the best of Bangladesh in the series. Thanks to Mustafizur Rahman’s career-best figure of 4-1-10-6, Bangladesh restricted the USA to 104/9. The small target was chased down by the opening partnership of Soumya Sarkar (43* off 28) and Tanzid Tamim (58* off 42) with 50 balls and 10 wickets to spare. The latter scored his 3rd half-century in a career of seven games.
