T20 series
Mahmudullah has few answers as Tigers’ rut continues
Bangladesh T20I captain Mahmudullah Riyad was left singing the same old tune of a top order batting failure, a running feature of the seemingly endless run of disappointing results that the team is on, after their second defeat in two days against Pakistan in Mirpur, handing the 3-match series to the tourists.
On Saturday, Bangladesh endured defeat by eight wickets at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. And after the match, Mahmudullah said it was their batting that failed them once again. It was Bangladesh’s seventh consecutive T20I defeat, going back to the start of the Super-12s phase in the recently concluded T20 World Cup.
In these seven matches, Bangladesh with the bat managed totals of: 171/4, 124/9, 139/5, 84, 73, 127/7 and 108/7.
Read: Pakistan wrap up series beating Bangladesh by eight wickets
“I think we started off quite well today. Afif (Hossain) and (Najmul Hossain) Shanto batted really well in the middle. I and Shanto were trying to get a partnership but we couldn't capitalise on the end overs,” Mahmudullah said after the match.
“For a team like us, we need a set batter to be there at the end, but it didn't happen today.”
Like most days, these days, he could have said. With the 84 against South Africa in the World Cup, Bangladesh became the first ICC full-member side to be bowled out for under 100 thrice in a calendar year. In the next game against Australia, they extended this dubious record with a fourth sub-100 total in 2021.
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Riyad was left flummoxed by a question regarding the team’s catching ability, after the team dropped two more easy catches today, continuing another trend from the World Cup of missing regulation catches.
“Boys are putting a lot of effort into the catching during practice but unfortunately, we're missing out on chances (during the game),” he said, very keen to put across that the team is catching everything in practice sessions, without all the pressure of an international fixture.
In the end, clutching at straws for positives, the hapless skipper was left only with a defensive bowling performance on the day that supposedly prevented Pakistan from blowing their small target away. But truth be told, they never needed to.
“The bowling unit has been outstanding over the last six months, whether it is the pace or spin. It's the batting unit that has to come up with the goods,” he added.
‘Outstanding’ might be stretching it a bit. But if it can shame his batsmen into getting some runs on the board that bowlers can play with, its use may just be pardoned.
The third and final T20I of the series will take place on November 22 at the same venue. After the T20I series, the teams will compete in a two-match Test series.
Pakistan wrap up series beating Bangladesh by eight wickets
With one match to play, Pakistan have wrapped up the three-match T20I series against hosts Bangladesh, who continued on a poor run, on Saturday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first, but once again they failed to post a challenging total.
In reply to Bangladesh’s 108, Fakhar Zaman hit his seventh T20I fifty to guide Pakistan to their second consecutive win in this series. The third and final T20I of the contest will take place on Monday at the same venue.
Mustafizur Rahman removed Babar Azam in the third over of the innings, but that was the last time when Bangladesh showed some resistance against Pakistan who came to Bangladesh after losing the semifinal to Australia.
Pakistan ended up on 109 for two in 18.2 overs with Fakhar remaining unbeaten for 57 off 51 with two four and three sixes.
Read: Mahmudullah blames top-order batting after defeat to Pakistan
Fakhar was dropped by Saif Hassan at the deep when he was at 26 off 26 balls. The batter skied the ball high, Saif got enough time to take a good position but he failed to grab the ball.
Earlier, Shaheen Afridi, who was rested in the previous match, got two wickets, and Shadab Khan also scalped two. Riding on their quality bowling display, Pakistan restrict Bangladesh for 108 for seven in 20 overs.
Saif Hassan, the right-handed opener, who got his maiden T20I cap in the first match, failed again to shine. He suffered a golden duck this time.
The other opener, Mohammad Naim, amassed two runs playing eight balls. He looked uncomfortable from the beginning of the innings, and eventually fell prey to Mohammad Wasim.
In the third wicket stand, Afif Hossain and Najmul Hossain Shanto added 46. Afif looked to live on a good rhythm but he failed to carry on as he was dismissed playing a loose shot off Shadab Khan. With a four and a six, Afif added 20 off 20 balls.
Najmul ended up on 40 off 34 balls before falling prey to Shadab. Mahmudullah and Nurul Hasan continued on bad patches as they posted 12 and 11 this time.
Pakistan won the first match of the series, and another win would wrap the series for them.
Read: Pakistan beat Bangladesh in low-scoring first T20I
When Pakistan wrapped up the series, the most memorable point of this match was a fan who invaded the field from the northern stand of the gallery. He was haunted by some groundsmen without any luck.
The incident took place after the 13th over of Pakistan’s innings. The fan ran directly to Bangladesh cricketers and bowed down to Mustafizur. However, the security men came quickly to drag him away.
This is not the first time when fans invaded the field in Mirpur. Earlier, in 2016, a fan invaded the field to reach Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, the then Bangladesh captain.
Mahmudullah blames top-order batting after defeat to Pakistan
Bangladesh T20I captain Mahmudullah Riyad blamed the failure of the top-order batters after their four-wicket defeat to Pakistan in the first match of the three-match series on Friday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Bangladesh scored 127 for seven in 20 overs in this match, and in reply, Pakistan ended up on 132 in 19.2 overs losing six wickets and won the match by four wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Bangladesh collected only 25 runs for three wickets in the powerplay— another lean show by the Tigers in the first six overs in the T20Is.
READ: Bangladesh opt to bat first in T20I series opener vs Pakistan
“When we chose to bat, it looked a good wicket to bat on. But there was help for the bowlers as well. It's not an excuse. We should have put on a better performance with the bat, especially top of the order,” Mahmudullah said after the match. “We were lacking a good performance from the top-order in the World Cup as well. It would have been better if we got up to 140. But with 127, if you can get a couple of early wickets, (it would have been better). Bowlers did a great job. We were very close. In the end, credit goes to the last two batters of Pakistan (Mohammad) Nawaz and Shadab (Khan) who batted really well for them,” Bangladesh captain added.
Pakistan also lost some quick wickets, but in the fifth wicket stand, Fakhar Zaman and Khusdil Shah added 56 runs on the board which helped them put some pressure back on Bangladesh.
READ: Quick wickets jolt Pakistan in first T20I
In the end, 8-ball 18 by Mohammad Nawaz and 10-ball 21 by Shadab Khan helped Pakistan seal the game with four balls and four wickets in hand. The second match of the series will take place on Saturday at the same venue at 2pm, and the third and final match of the series will be played on November 22.
Quick wickets jolt Pakistan in first T20I
In reply to Bangladesh’s 127, Pakistan lost four early wickets inside 10 overs scoring 40 runs in the first T20I of the three-match series on Friday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
In the last 10 overs, Pakistan needed 88 runs with six wickets in hand.
Mahedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman bagged one wicket each while Nurul Hasan trapped one run out.
Read: Australia cricket captain resigns after "sexting" scandal
Mohammad Rizwan was the first player to get dismissed. His stumps were shattered by a wonderful delivery from Mustafizur.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam was the second wicket to fall, and he was haunted by Taskin. It was a good length delivery from the pacer, and Babar tried to clear through the off side region but only managed an edge to the stumps.
Mahedi bagged the third wicket removing Haider Ali for a duck, and right after his dismissal, Nurul sent Shoaib Malik back to the dressing room for a duck as well.
Earlier, Bangladesh posted 127 for seven in 20 overs, with Afif Hossain posting the highest of 36 off 34 balls, and Mahedi added 30.
Read: Live Streaming of Bangladesh-Pakistan Series 2021
Hassan bagged three wickets for Pakistan conceding 22 runs in four overs.
Bangladesh v Pakistan: Young Tigers look to restore pride lost in World Cup
The three-match T20 series between hosts Bangladesh and touring Pakistan begins here Friday (November 19) at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur with Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah Riyad looking to restore pride lost in the recently concluded World Cup.
The match will kick-off at 2 pm (Bangladesh time).
Local fans for the first time will be allowed to witness the match live at the big bowl since the start of the pandemic. Around 50% of tickets against the stadium’s capacity will available for the fans and most of the tickets are already sold out.
Read:Is Mahmudullah unaware of Mushfiqur’s omission?
The second match of the series will be played the very next day (November 20), with the concluding match on November 22 at the same venue.
Before this series, Bangladesh and Pakistan played each other on 12 occasions in the format, with Bangladesh winning only two of them.
When captain Mahmudullah Riyad was asked a question regarding the failure of Bangladesh in T20 World Cup at a pre-match press conference on Thursday, he appeared to be annoyed. But the Bangladesh T20I captain softly replied that he is not willing to talk more about the World Cup.
It’s understandable why the Bangladesh captain is so annoyed to talk about the just-concluded World Cup— they lost six out of eight matches they played, including all five in the Super 12s phase, at the biggest stage of T20 cricket.
Bangladesh’s defeat against Scotland in the very first match of their World Cup campaign was difficult to accept for most cricket fans. They lost two warm-up matches right before the World Cup, so they needed some time to get themselves up for the main event.
But when they won their next two matches against Oman and Papua New Guinea to qualify for the Super 12s phase of the World Cup, expectations were high and the Tigers failed miserably to deliver.
“I don’t want to talk about the World Cup, we rather are focusing on the next match and on this series. It’s more important to me how much we can contribute to the team in this contest than thinking about the World Cup. Pakistan are one of the best teams in the world, so this series is going to be a tough one,” Mahmudullah said Thursday at the pre-match press conference.
Read:BAN vs PAK Series 2021: Spectators set to return to the stadium in the Pakistan Series
In the mission to restore pride, Bangladesh are going to miss the services of Mushfiqur Rahim, who has always been one of Bangladesh’s mainstays in the batting line. He failed to shine in the World Cup— scoring only 144 runs in eight matches with five single-digit scores.
Mushfiqur’s omission came as a surprise to many including the wicketkeeper-batter himself. Bangladesh chief selector Minhajul Abedin said that he was rested as they want him fresh for the busy Test schedule awaiting in the coming months.
“We want Mushfiq to deliver his best in the Test series against Pakistan and New Zealand,” Minhajul told the media after announcing a new-look Bangladesh T20 squad for the Pakistan series. “We have to play successive four Tests against Pakistan and New Zealand. We want Mushfiqur to be fresh for these matches, and Tamim (Iqbal) is suffering from an injury and his participation is uncertain in these Tests. In this situation, Mushfiqur is so important for us, and this is why he was rested.”
Minhajul has claimed that to make the decision of leaving out Mushfiqur, the selection panel had reflected the thought process of the team management— a claim that Mushfiqur refused publicly in interviews with the local media.
The right-handed batter said the team management didn’t talk to him about his rest. He said he is taking this move as his first omission from the team in many years, and he also added it’s a challenge for him to prove his mettle in this format.
Bangladesh post 141 in 2nd T20I vs New Zealand
In the second match of the five-match T20I series against New Zealand, Bangladesh posted 141 for six in 20 overs.
Mohammad Naim scored the highest, 39, for the Tigers while Mahmudullah Riyad remained unbeaten scoring 37.
Bangladesh made a good start as Liton Das and Mohammad Naim put up a 59-run stand at the opening. Their stay was a clear indication of a better wicket in Mirpur.
Read: BAN vs. NZ 2021: Bangladesh Clinch Their First T20I Win Against Newzeland
But Bangladesh’s progress stumbled when Liton fell prey to Rachin Ravindra, and off the next ball, Mushfiqur Rahim was stumped by a great effort of New Zealand captain Tom Latham.
Shakib Al Hasan also failed to continue on a good run. He fell prey to Cole McConchie scoring 12 of seven balls with two fours. It looked an easy catch for the debutant Ben Sears, but he missed it at the first chance. He managed to get it at the second chance after the ball bounced on his leg.
After Shakib’s dismissal, Afif Hossain also returned to the dressing quickly. He managed to score only three in three balls.
Mahmudullah was firm at the other end of the wicket and remained unbeaten for 37 off 32 balls with five fours. He was accompanied by Nurul Hasan Sohan at the sixth wicket stand when Bangladesh added 32 off 22 balls. Before getting dismissed off the last ball of the innings, Sohan scored 13 off nine balls.
Read:Bangladesh overpower New Zealand on tricky surface
For New Zealand, spinner Rachin Ravindra bagged three wickets conceding 22 runs while Ajaz Patel, Cole McConchie and Hamish Bennett took one wicket each.
Soumya takes big leap in ICC T20 rankings after Zimbabwe series
Bangladesh batsman Soumya Sarkar has made big strides of nine places to take the 34th position in the latest ICC rankings for T20 international batsmen.
The southpaw hit two fifties in the three-match T20 series and had an average of 42.
While Soumya rose to 34th place from 43rd, Bangladesh T20 captain Mahmudullah Riyad and left-hand opener Mohammad Naim slipped a few spots.
Read: Soumya hit fifty but Tigers lose T20Is series against Kiwis
Mahmudullah went down three places from 33 while Naim dropped to 32 from 29.
At the end of the Zimbabwe series, Shakib Al Hasan occupies the number one bowler position of Bangladesh after being placed at 21 in the T20 bowler rankings. Also, he remains number two in the T20 all-rounders' rankings.
Bangladesh won the three-match T20 series 2-1 against Zimbabwe.
Read: Soumya, Abu Jayed help Tigers get back control
The Tigers' next assignment is against Australia who are scheduled to arrive in Dhaka later this week.
Australia will play a five-match T20 series against Bangladesh.
The first match will take place on August 3, while other matches will be played on August 4, 6, 7 and 9. All the matches will be played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
Zimbabwe restore parity in T20 series
After five consecutive defeats, Zimbabwe finally beat Bangladesh by 23 runs in the T20 format Friday at the Harare Sports Club.
With the win, Zimbabwe restored parity in the second match of the three-match series.
The last match of this series will be played on July 25 at the same venue.
In Friday's match, Zimbabwe batted first after winning the toss and posted 166/6 in 20 overs.
In reply, Bangladesh kept losing the wickets regularly and were bundled out for 143 in 19.5 overs.
The Tigers made two changes to starting XI, choosing Taskin Ahmed and the debutant Shamim Hossain over Liton Das and Mustafizur Rahman.
Read: Tigers crush Zimbabwe in first T20 match
Mohammad Naim and Soumya Sarkar, who shared Bangladesh's first 100-run stand in the opening partnership in the first match, failed to shine this time.
Both of them were removed by Blessing Muzarabani within 17 runs.
Mahedi Hasan and Shakib Al Hasan managed a good start, scoring 15 and 12 runs but failed to continue. They fell prey to Wellington Masakadza who took three wickets conceding 20 runs in four overs.
Debutant left-hand batsman Shamim Hossain scored 29 runs off 13 balls with three fours and one six.
Afif Hossain, who played more balls than any of his teammates, perished on 24 off 25 balls. Dismissals of Shamim and Afif ended Bangladesh's chance of winning the match.
Read: Tamim, Shohan guide Tigers to ODI series sweep against Zimbabwe
Along with Masakadza, Luke Jongwe also bagged three wickets for Zimbabwe while Tendai Chatara and Blessing Muzarabani scalped two wickets each.
Earlier, Wessley Madhevere stuck 72 off 57 balls with five fours and three sixes for the hosts. Also, Dion Myers and Ryan Burl scored 26 and 34.
For Bangladesh, Shoriful Islam took three wickets while Mahedi Hasan and Shakib took one wicket each.
Mushfiqur to miss T20 series against Australia over isolation norms
Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim is set to miss next month's five-match T20 home series against Australia over strict isolation norms.
As per the conditions set by Cricket Australia, every Bangladeshi cricketer needs to be quarantined for at least 14 days ahead of the T20 series. Mushfiqur missed this isolation deadline even after coming back without playing the ODI series in Zimbabwe.
Mushfiqur flew back home from Harare on July 14 after coming to know that his parents had contracted Covid-19. To fulfil the requirement of the 14-day mandatory quarantine before the series, Mushfiqur needed to isolate himself by July 20, but he missed the deadline due to family commitments.
Also read: Tamim to miss home series against Australia, New Zealand
Mushfiqur wanted to isolate himself on July 22, but the operations committee of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) told him that "it won’t work now".
“Mushfiqur wanted to play the series, but he missed the deadline by two days,” Akram Khan, the chair of cricket operations of BCB, told the media. “A specific quarantine period is in our agreement with Cricket Australia. So, we cannot include Mushfiqur now. We talked to them, but they did not agree."
The first match of the series will take place on August 3, while the other matches will be played on August 4, 6, 7 and 9. All the matches will take place at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.
Also read: Australia’s August tour of Bangladesh 'on'
New Zealand hit 141 in 3rd T20I vs Bangladesh
New Zealand hit 141 for four in the third T20I against Bangladesh on Thursday at Auckland. The match was reduced to 10-over a side as the first two hours of the match was washed away due to rain.
Liton Das is leading the Tigers in this game in the absence of the regular captain Mahmudullah Riyad who sustained a blow on this shoulder in the second game and ruled of this game.
Also Read: Bangladesh opt to bowl as 3rd T20 reduces to 10-over a side
Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bowl first under the overcast condition.
In the three-over powerplay, New Zealand smashed 43 for none. Nasum Ahmed started bowling conceding nine runs in the first over. In the second over, Taskin Ahmed conceded 14 runs, and Nasum came in the third over and gave away 23 runs with three fours and one six.
Also Read: Liton to lead Tigers in 3rd T20I vs Kiwis
New Zealand continued to smash boundaries as Finn Allen completed his first T20I fifty off 18 balls with eight fours and two sixes.
Finn got dismissed by Taskin in the last over as substitute fielder Mehdiy Hasan Miraz took a tough catch at the boundary in the third man area. Finn ended up on 71 off 29 balls with 10 fours and three sixes.
Bangladesh got the first wicket when Martin Guptil skied off Mahedi Hasan to the deep area and Afif Hossain took an easy catch. Guptil ended up on 44 off 19 balls with five sixes and one four.
Eventually, New Zealand ended up 141 for four with Finn hitting the highest score of 71.
For Bangladesh, Mahedi, Taskin and Shoriful bagged one wicket each while the other wicket fell prey to runout.
Before coming into the T20Is series, the Tigers have lost the three-match ODI series 3-0. Bangladesh played a total of 31 international matches in New Zealand but failed to come up victorious in any of them.
Bangladesh made three changes in this game as Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mosaddek Hossain and Rubel Hossain came in to replace Mahmudullah Riyad, Mohammad Mithun and Mohammad Saifuddin.