Bangladesh stun England to level series 1-1

It has been a day of upsets. After Spain’s shock loss against France in Davis Cup, it was the turn of Asian underdogs Bangladesh. Bangladesh defeated England by 5 runs and secured their first victory over England. This win was their first ODI victory this year. In a dramatic finish, Bangladesh beat England in the last over of the match and thus levelled the 3 match ODI series 1-1 with the decider to be played on Monday.

Bangladesh Level Series

Bangladesh were sent in, after England won the toss. Their batsmen failed once again but thanks to a solid knock from Imrul Kayes who helped Bangladesh reach a respectable total of 236. Playing his 2nd match Yorkshire bowler Ajmal Shahzad picked up 3 for 41. England in reply had a good start putting up 49 quick runs for the opening wicket but soon found themselves struggling at 115-5 against a disciplined Bangladesh attack led by captain Masrafe Mortaza. England needed 23 off the final 2 and with Trott still on crease England had a good chance. Trott took 13 runs off the fisrt five balls to bring back England in the game, but Anderdon hit the last ball back to Masrafe who made no mistake. At this point of time, Bangladesh thought they had achieved the victory and started ripping off the stumps. But the joy was short lived as Ian Bell limped out with a broken foot hoping his partner Trott would take them home.

Needing 10 from the last over Trott picked up a couple off the first two balls off Shafiul Islam before edging one to the keeper to send Bangladesh into wild celebrations. What made bangladesh victory more special was their end of 24 match losing streak. “Definitely, after losing 24 matches in a row the dressing room hasn’t been happy, But the dressing room is happy now! We just hoped that this would come, we just worked hard. Keeping calm is what cricket is all about, we tried to stay positive at the end and believe.” said captain Masrafe.

Cricket is surely a great leveller. After beating the world no 1 Australia comprehensively, none would have given Bangladesh a chance against the same English team. Now with this victory, Bangladesh are back in the series and have a great chance of winning the series in the decider. But, they will certainly have to be more consistent with their batting. An upset here and there won’t cause much of a difference. England on the other hand will learn to win without their major players like Swann, who played a major role in the Australia series and their backbone Pieterson.

But, leaving what happens in the next game aside, this is a moment to cherish for the Bangladeshis and they will surely celebrate it in style