USA vs BAN 2nd T20I: Bangladesh Create Unwanted Record After Going 0-2 Down to USA

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The T20 World Cup 2024 co-hosts United States claimed an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing three-match series against Bangladesh following a 6-run victory in the second T20I at the Prairie View Cricket Complex in Houston on Thursday (May 23).

As a result of Thursday's win, USA, who had beated Bangladesh by 5 wickets in the series opener, won their first ever series against a full member nation of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

While there are several instances of minnows shocking top ranked teams in the shortest format, this is the first instance when an associate member has beaten an ICC full member nation in a T20I bilateral series.

Chasing 145, apart from captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and the in-form Towhid Hridoy, none of the other batters in the Bangladesh dugout managed to rise to the occasion.

Bangladesh were well on course to reach the target at the half-way mark, but Corey Anderson turned the match in the Americans' favour in the 11th over, when the former Kiwi all-rounder executed a run out of the counterpart's skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto.

Anderson gathered the ball and charged towards the stumps following a mix-up between Shanto and Towhid Hridoy. A slight moment of hesitation saw Shanto perish, as he trudged back to the dugout for 36 off 34 balls.

An over later, an Anderson in-swinger rattled Hridoy's (25 off 21 balls) stumps to deliver a blow to Bangladesh's chase as the wicket triggered a collapse that not many would have seen coming.

Shakib Al Hasan, however, led the fight at one end but the wickets kept falling at the other at regular intervals. The equation came down to 21 runs off the final 3 overs for Bangladesh to keep the series alive.

Pressure was telling as the star all-rounder Shakib fell in the very first delivery of the 18th over bowled by Ali Khan, who also removed Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Rishad Hossain to seal the match and the series.

Ali Khan was the pick of the bowlers for USA with figures of 3 for 25 in 3.3 overs, while left-arm pacer Saurabh Netravalkar and medium pacer Shadley van Schalkwyk claimed two wickets each. Aderson and Jasdeep Singh also took a wicket a piece.

Earlier, put into bat, skipper Monank Patel led the charge with 42, while Steven Taylor and Aaron Jones also made valuable contributions with their knocks of 31 and 35 respectively to propel USA's score to 144/7.

Bangladesh will now look to bounce back and claim a consolation win in the final match of the series at the same venue in Houston on Saturday (May 25) before they face India in the T20 World Cup warm up match on June 1.