Yes, you read it right. In a 5-match series, Bangladesh have defeated Australia by 4-1.
When Australia toured Bangladesh for the last time, Bangladesh won their first ever Test match and overall their second international match against Australia. This year, they went a step ahead and clinched their first ever series win against Australia in any format. Before this series, Bangladesh and Australia had faced each other 31 times in international cricket. Australia triumphed in 28 of those while Bangladesh won just 2 of those which means Bangladesh have defeated the Aussies twice the times in this series than they did in the past 31 years (Bangladesh and Australia played against each other for the first time in 1990).
Here's how the series spanned out:
1st T20I: On a sluggish track, Australia won the toss and elected to bowl first. Bangladesh struggled to score and ended up with 131/7. Shakib top scored with 36(33) followed by Naim 30(29). Hazelwood was the pick of the bowlers with 4-0-24-3. Australia in reply struggled way more and were bowled out for 108 on the last ball of the inning. Barring Mitchell Marsh 45(45), all the other batsman failed miserably. Nasum Ahmed turned out to be the best bowler of Bangladesh with the figures 4-0-19-4 and was also adjudged the Man of the Match.
2nd T20I: Australia won the toss for the second consecutive time and this time around they decided to bat first. However, again the batting failed and they put up only 121/7 on the board for their bowlers to defend. Mitchell Marsh 45(42) and Moises Henriques 30(25) were the only batsman who had a good outing. Mustafizur Rahman returned with the figures of 4-0-23-3. Bangladesh had quite a few hiccups in their chase but cruised home with 8 balls and 5 wickets to spare. Afif Hossain top scored with 37(31)* and was also adjuged the Man of the Match.
3rd T20I: Bangladesh won their first toss of the series and decided to bat first. Riding on Mahmudullah's 52(53), they ended up with 127/9 on the board. Shakib's 26(17) and Afif Hossain's 19(13) too helped them in getting some quick runs on a slow and sluggish track. Nathan Ellis returned with the figures of 4-0-34-3, which included a hat-trick with wickets coming on the last 3 balls of the innings. Hazlewood ended up with miserly returns of 4-0-16-2. The chase was going to be difficult for the Aussies and it turned out to be so. They fell short by 10 runs even though they still had 6 wickets left in the bank. Mitchell Marsh continued his good form by scoring 51(47). All the bowlers bowled well but Mustafizur's 4-0-9-0 turned the game completely in Bangladesh's favour. Mahmudullah was adjudged the Man of the Match.
4th T20I: Bangladesh won the toss for the second consecutive time and decided to bat first. The batting seemed to have got way more difficult and Bangladesh managed a mere 104/9 in their allotted 20 overs. Thanks to Mahedi Hasan's 23(16), Bangladesh's total crossed the 3-figure mark. Mitchell Swepson and Andrew Tye returned with the figures of 4-0-12-3 and 3-0-18-3 respectively. Australia in reply scored 15 off the first 3 overs with a loss of solitary wicket when Shakib Al Hasan came for his second over. Daniel Christian hit 30 runs off that over comprising 5 sixes. However after that, Australia again batted the way they did till now in this series and slumped to 65/6 in 10.2 overs but Agar 27(27) kept his cool and Australia won by 3 wickets and an over to spare. Mustafizur Rahman had another brilliant day with the ball as he returned with the figures of 4-1-9-2. Mitchell Swepson was adjudged the Man of the Match.
5th T20I: Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat first. They put up 122/8 on the board. Nathan Ellis and Dan Christian were the pick of the bowlers for the Aussies with the figures of 4-0-16-2 and 4-0-17-2 respectively but Australian batsmen had saved their worst for the last. Shakib Al Hasan(3.4-1-9-4), Mohammad Saifuddin(3-0-12-3) and Nasum Ahmed(2-0-8-2) ripped apart Australian batting lineup as they folded out with a bare 62 runs on the board in 13.4 overs. Shakib Al Hasan was adjuded the Man of the Match as well as the Man of the Series.
Bangladesh will be really proud of the way they played. Their bowlers were spot-on while defending small totals. Shakib Al Hasan picked 7 wickets at 18.14 a piece in addition to scoring 114 runs. Nasum Ahmed snapped up 8 scalps at an average of 11.5 and Shoriful Islam accounted for 7 victims at an average of 11.86. Mustafizur Rahman, who seemed to be the hardest challenge for Australia, picked up 7 wickets at an average of 8.57 and an economy of 3.53. Australian bowlers bowled well as a unit but all their batsmen barring Mitchell Marsh, seemed clueless and lacked application.
One of the best aspects of the series was how Bangladesh played as a unit. Like Australia they too were missing out on the services of some of their key players like Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahin but the others stepped up in their absence. The senior guys like Mahmudullah(also the skipper), Shakib Al Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman were supported brilliantly by the likes of Afif Hossain, Shoriful Islam and Nasum Ahmed.
Image Courtesy: The New Indian Express
Where Does Bangladesh Stand In International Cricket Today
There was a time when an uneven match-up between two sides was given the synonym of Australia Cricket Team versus Bangladesh Cricket Team but the things have changed a lot now. Though, how the Bangladesh side will fare against Australia in Australia is still a big question, but they seem to be have a clear-cut upper hand in their home. With this series win, Bangladesh now have a series win against all Test playing nations except England. They have ended as a runner-up in the last 3 of 4 Asia Cups, reached the semi-final of the last Champions Trophy in 2017, reached the quarter-final in the 2015 World Cup. They have defeated many top teams in major tournaments on various occasions which cannot be labelled as upsets now given the frequency of those. Though, they still have a lot to improve on outside the subcontinent, especially in the longest format, but now on their home they are capable of beating any side in the world in any format of the game.
