USA Hands Bangladesh a Shocking Loss at Houston

The Cricket fans were up for a surprise in the United States of America, no one would have ever imagined that a USA win over a test-playing nation could become a reality.

Corey Anderson and Harmeet Singh help USA win

In a shocking result, the USA scripted a historic win over Bangladesh in the first T20I held at Houston by 5 wickets taking a 1-0 lead in the series. Former New Zealand player Corey Anderson and skipper Harmeet Singh were the protagonists for the home team in a historic run chase.

Worries For Bangladesh Ahead of T20 World Cup

The Bangladeshi middle order has been a topic of concern for the fans as well as the selectors, what followed was a poor start once again even though Soumya Sarkar was quick to get off the blocks scoring a quickfire 20 off 12 deliveries. Litton Das Once again had a torrid time in the middle he scored a run-a-ball 14 before being trapped LBW.

Shakib Al Hasan too struggled for form as he scored just 6 runs off 12 balls. Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto too had a tough time on the crease scoring 3 runs off 11 cherries. The Bangladeshi Innings was in rough Waters until a Crucial partnership was stitched between Towhid Hridoy and Mahmuddulah Riyad adding 67 runs, Both fell before the end of 20 overs but did well enough to help Bangladesh post a respectable total.

The Run Chase

Coming into the run chase USA was cautious in their approach as Steven Taylor played a slow knock (29 off 28), Skipper Monank Patel was already sold down the river, US team even at this point was in decent shape, However soon the procession of wickets started.

Mustafizur Rahman gave twin blows to the home side which resulted in a mini collapse USA slumped from 65-1 to 78-4, the chase from hereon looked tough as they lost Nitish Reddy shortly, the chase was reduced to 60 needed off 31 balls, then to 50 off 20. At this point of time US didn't had many batting resources left.

However, skipper Harmeet Singh had other ideas as he hit the ropes on the full twice in the 17th over. Harmeet then took down Shoriful Islam for a four and six to bring down the runs to 24 needed off the last 2 overs. Corey Anderson who was struggling for timing also found his mojo back as he smashed Mustafizur for a big hit before taking down Mahmudullah for one more in the next over, Skipper Harmeet Singh hit a boundary to seal the deal.

Brief scores: Bangladesh153/6 in 20 overs (Towhid Hridoy 58; Steven Taylor 2/9) lost to USA 156/5 in 19.3 overs (Corey Anderson 34*, Harmeet Singh 33*) by 5 wickets