Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh Seal Chase As USA Stuns BAN In 1st T20I To Go 1-0 Up
USA players celebrating a wicket in the first T20I (x.com)
Brief Scores: Bangladesh: 153-6 (20 overs) [Towhid Hridoy: 58 (47), Mahmudullah: 31 (22); Steven Taylor 2/9 (3), Saurabh Netravalkar 1/27 (4)] lost to USA: 156-5 (19.3 overs) [Corey Anderson: 34* (25), Harmeet Singh: 33* (13); Mustafizur Rahman 2/41 (4), Rishad Hossain 1/16 (2)] by five wickets.
The United States of America (USA) stunned a strong Bangladeshi outfit in the first T20I to take a 1-0 lead in their three-match series at Houston’s Prairie View Cricket Complex on May 21.
Towhid Hridoy’s 58 steers Bangladesh to 153
After racing to 34-0 in four overs, Bangladesh lost openers Litton Das and Soumya Sarkar in quick succession at the hands of Jasdeep Singh and Steven Taylor respectively. A couple of overs later in the innings, visiting captain Najmul Hossain Shanto became Taylor’s second victim of the day as Bangladesh slipped to 51-3.
Senior man Shakib Al Hasan scored a sluggish 12-ball six before a mix-up with Towhid Hridoy accounted for his downfall at 68-4.
Fortunately for the visitors, Towhid (47-ball 58) solidified their innings by sharing a 67-run partnership with Mahmudullah (22-ball 31) to set up base for a competitive total. Jaker Ali also unleashed a couple of useful boundaries at the end as Bangladesh raced to 153-6 by the competition of their 20 overs.
Apart from Jasdeep Singh and Steven Taylor at the top, USA’s new-ball pace duo of Saurabh Netravalkar and Ali Khan also chipped in with a wicket each in their respective four-over spells.
Harmeet, Corey Anderson steer USA to a huge win
After starring with the ball, Steve Taylor charted a near run-a-ball 28 and shared handy partnerships with opening partner Monank Patel (12 off 10) and number three Andries Gous (23 off 18 balls) before he was dismissed by Mustafizur Rahman at 75-3 in 11.2 overs.
Mustafizur also curtailed Aaron Jones’ sluggish stay at the crease, while Shoriful Islam removed Nitish Kumar (10) in quick succession as USA’s run-chase struggles worsened at 94-5.
With half of the team back in the pavilion and still in search of another 60 runs from the final five overs, USA all-rounder and former New Zealand international Corey Anderson cautiously defied Bangladesh’s charged-up attack alongside a raging Harmeet Singh.
While Anderson launched a couple of sixes to list an unbeaten 25-ball 34, Harmeet’s 13-ball 33* sealed the deal for the USA with three balls to spare in the final over.
The win helped USA claim a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, thus registering their first win over a Test-playing nation in three years. With less than 10 days remaining for the 2024 T20 World Cup, the two teams will now face each other in the second T20I match at the same venue on May 23.