Shakib Al Hasan's all-round heroics lift Bangladesh to consolation win

07 March, 2023
Shakib Al Hasan's all-round heroics lift Bangladesh to consolation win
Shakib notches a half-century and four wickets in an ODI for record-breaking fourth time

Bangladesh 246 (Shakib 75, Mushfiqur 70, Shanto 54, Archer 3-35) beat England 196 (Vince 38, Shakib 4-35) by 50 runs

Shakib Al Hasan capped the achievement of reaching 300 ODI wickets with another great all-round showing to lead Bangladesh to a 50-run win against England. The small Chattogram crowd burst into life when Shakib took his fourth wicket, making him the first Bangladeshi to reach this feat.

Shakib scored a quickfire 75 to help Bangladesh to a fighting 246 all out, before taking 4 for 35. It was the fourth time in his career that Shakib made a fifty and took four wickets in ODIs, moving him ahead of Shahid Afridi and Chris Gayle on three. This was also Shakib's tenth four-wicket haul.

The amazing showing was a reminder of Shakib's quality and class as an allrounder. He wrestled Bangladesh out of a tough situation in the latter part of their innings, before giving them breakthroughs throughout the England innings.

The visitors were off to a flyer after Jason Roy and Phil Salt struck a flurry of boundaries in the first nine overs. But when Salt hit one to cover point where Mahmudullah took a simple catch, Shakib had given Bangladesh the important first wicket. Having started brightly for his 35 off 25 balls, creaming seven fours, Salt was furious with himself.

Ebadot Hossain had Dawid Malan, centurion from the first game, caught at mid-on for a duck, before Shakib removed Roy for 19 off 33 balls. The ball kept a little low but that's usually how Shakib's undercutter looks as it skids into the stumps. Three wickets in nine balls turned 54 for no loss into 55 for 3, bringing the home side back in the contest.

Sam Curran, promoted to No. 5 in the absence of Will Jacks, scratched around for 49 balls for his 23, before hitting one down long-off's throat in the 24th over. His partnership with James Vince added 49 runs, but the direction of the match would always depend on the next pair.

Vince however fell in the 27th over when Shakib got one to rip from middle and leg, take Vince's outside edge. Mushfiqur Rahim juggled once before gripping it properly, as Shakib gave Vince a send-off, possibly for getting hit the previous ball. Ebadot then roared a yorker through Moeen Ali's attempted push, as England started to slip away.

Taijul Islam broke through in the 35th over when he had Jos Buttler lbw for 26, a surprising innings that had no boundaries. Adil Rashid also fell to Taijul, in his last over.

Shakib returned for his last two overs, removing England debutant Rehan Ahmed with a half-tracker, caught at midwicket, before Mustafizur Rahman caught and bowled Chris Woakes, who made 34.

Bangladesh had to thank their bowlers as even three fifties in their batting innings wasn't enough for a big total. There weren't enough contributions from the other batters.

Curran removed both openers in the first three overs. Litton Das fell for his second successive duck, before Tamim Iqbal top edged a flick after making 11.

Mushfiqur and Najmul Hossain Shanto took them out of that spot with a 98-run third wicket. Both struck fifties as they stuck around for more than 21 overs. It was slow going at times, but they had to consolidate. But shortly after reaching his fifty, Shanto was run out after he responded late to a Mushfiqur call for a tight single.

Mushfiqur missed with his slog-sweep against Adil Rashid's googly in the 33rd over, having made 70 off 93 balls with six fours. Rashid removed Mahmudullah cheaply too, before Shakib took over the bulk of the scoring. He added 49 for the sixth wicket with Afif, who struggled to 15, before Mehidy Hasan and Taijul fell cheaply as Shakib lacked support, eventually holing out off Jofra Archer.

Rashid was England's best bowler once again, although Archer took one more wicket than his two scalps. Curran took those two early wickets while Woakes and Rehan took a wicket each. They made sure Bangladesh were bowled out before playing 50 overs for all three matches in this series.

This is the first instance in 15 years in a home ODI series for Bangladesh. But the home side's relief was to have avoided a whitewash at home, with Sri Lanka having inflicted the last one in 2014.
Source: www.espncricinfo.com
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