Asia Cup T20 Match 3 Review: Bangladesh bowlers knock down incompetent UAE

Bangladesh registered a clinical win today after they beat the UAE by 51 runs. Their bowlers were exceptional and made up for the poor batting performance by their batsmen who could only post 133/8 in 20 overs batting first. In reply, UAE could not withstand the highly disciplined bowling attack and bundled out for just 82 in 17.4 overs.

After being put into bat by UAE skipper Amjad Javed, Bangladesh openers Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Mithun started off steadily. The duo stitched up 47 runs for the first wicket before the pair was separated by Mohammad Shahzad in the 6th over.

Mohammad Mithun was scoring runs with ease at one end but Sabbir Rahman looked to be struggling and soon lost his wicket after making a sluggish 6 runs off 13 balls. Bangladesh began to sink deep in trouble from here on. They lost two quick wickets in the 12th and the 13th over of the game. The free flowing Mithun  was run out while the less impressive Mushfiqur Rahim was caught behind off Mohammad Naveed’s bowling.

Shakib al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad then put together a slothful 29 run stand before skipper Amjad Javed came into action by striking twice off consecutive deliveries in the 18th over. He cleaned up Shakib to break the stand and made it two in two when Nurul Hasan was caught by Fahad Tariq off the following delivery.

The penultimate over also did not bring any big run for them. The Bangladesh Tigers were at a poor 116/7 after 19 overs. However, Mahmuddulah cracked 17 runs in the 20 overs to take the team total to a functional score of 133/8 after 20 overs. UAE once again produced an inspiring bowling performance as they completely choked the Bangladeshi batting order. The hosts could score just 63 runs in the last 11 overs while losing seven wickets.

Mohammad Naveed (2/12 in 4 over) was the top performer with the ball for the UAE. His economy rate of three in this match is the second-best by a bowler from associate teams against full-member teams bowling full quota of 4 overs.

Bangladesh needed to bowl well to defend this paltry target and they did exactly the same. They began dominating right from the first over.  Al-Amin Hossain was the first to strike after he sent Mohammad Kaleem for a duck in the 2nd over. Taskin Ahmed bowled a short lively 2 over spell which completely unsettled the frail UAE top order. UAE suffered further setback after skipper Mashrafe Mortaza snapped up two wickets in consecutive overs.  HE got the wickets of Rohan Mustafa and Shaiman Anwar in the 5th and the 6th of the match. The following over saw Mustafizur strike a twin blow in the 7th over.

Mohammad Shahzad was foxed by Mustafizur’s off cutter and gave a simple return catch to the bowler while trying to flick the ball. Sandeep Patil, who played a brilliant knock against Sri Lanka last night, was also undone by the off cutter which caught the leading edge and popped up straight to Mortaza at mid on.

Mahmuddulah Riyad (2/5) and Shakib al Hasan (2/18) then cleaned up the UAE tail and the team from the Middle East were bowled out inadequately for just 82 runs.

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh: 133/8 in 20 overs (Mohammad Mithun 47; Mohammad Naveed 2/12)

UAE: 82 all out in 17.4 overs (Mohammad Usman 30; Mortaza 2/12)

Man of the Match: Mahmudullah Riyad