The Indo-Pakistan opening bowling combine of Saurabh Netravalkar and Ali Khan shared five wickets between them as the United States continued their domination of Bangladesh, handing them a narrow six-run defeat in the second T20I and took an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series on Thursday.
Netravalkar, the former Mumbai and India U-19 pacer struck a couple of early blows as he claimed 2-15 in three overs while Ali Khan, who was born in Pakistan and moved to the United States at the age of 16, wrapped up the innings in claiming 3-25 in 3.3 overs as the USA defended a paltry 144 at Prairie View Cricket Complex here.
While Netravalkar struck the first blow and Ali Khan grabbed the key wicket of Shakib Al Hasan (30 off 23), Shadley van Schalkwyk bagged 2-21 and Jasdeep Singh and Corey Anderson claimed one wicket each as Bangladesh were bundled out for 138 in 19.3 overs.
Asked to bat first, the United States were restricted to 144/6 in 20 overs with Shoriful Islam (2-29), Mustafizur Rahman (2-31) and Rishad Hossain (2-21) sharing the spoils. Skipper Monank Patel and Steven Taylor raised 44 runs for the opening partnership before Taylor was out to Rishad Hossain for 31 off 28 balls (4×3, 6×2).
Andries Gous was out for a first-ball duck but Patel, who anchored the innings, found a willing partner in Aaron Jones (35 off 34 balls) as they raised 60 runs for the third wicket partnership.
Patel top-scored with 42 off 38 balls, studded with four boundaries and one six while Corey Anderson hit a 10-ball 11 as the United States were restricted to a paltry score.
However, thanks to their superb bowling, they did not allow the Bangladesh batters to prosper and struck early blows to win the match.
Netravalkar caught Soumya Sarkar off his own bowling in the fourth ball of the first over and Jasdeep Singh sent back Tanzid Hasan for 19 as Bangladesh slumped to 30/2 in the fifth over. Skipper Najmal Hossain Shanto (36) and Towhid Hriday took the score to 78 before the skipper was run out going for a run after kicking the ball to the off-side. He ran halfway down the pitch before realising that his partner had not moved an inch — Corey Anderson picked up the ball and ran to the non-striker’s end to dislodge the stumps.
Towhid Hridoy was bowled by Anderson for 25 and Mahmudullah (3) was also out quickly as Bangladesh reached 106/5 in the 15th over, still on course for victory with Shakib Al Hasan at the crease. But Jaker Ali, Shakib. Rashid Hossain and Tanzim Hasan Sakib failed to close out the match as Bangladesh lost five wickets for 14 runs.
Shakib, one of Bangladesh’s all-time great batsmen, was out for 30 as Bangladesh fell short by six runs and lost the match and series.
Brief scores:
USA 144/6 in 20 overs (Monank Patel 42, Steve Taylor 31, Aaron Jones 35; Shoriful Islam 2-29, Mustafizur Rahman 2-31, Rishad Hossain 2-21) beat Bangladesh 138 all out in 19.3 overs (Najmul Hossain Shanto 36, Shakib Al Hasan 30, Towhid Hridoy 25; Ali Khan 3-25, Saurabh Netravalkar 2-15, Shadley van Schalkwyk 2-21) by six runs.