Bangladesh suffered a crushing blow as the UAE won the third and final T20I by seven wickets to win the three-match series by 2-1 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.听
Bangladesh, who were at one point 84-8, managed 162 runs in 20 overs thanks to the lower-order heroics to give themselves a chance on a slowish wicket.听
But Alishan Sharafu and Asif Khan stood tall while chasing for the hosts to clinch only their second series win over a full member nation. Alishan scored 68* off 47, while Asif remained unbeaten on 41 off 26 balls.听
This was Bangladesh鈥檚 second series (minimum two games) defeat to an associate nation after losing to the USA last year.听
Chasing 163, the UAE lost their captain and main batter, Muhammad Waseem (nine), with the score on 14, as Shoriful Islam struck early.听
But Alishan and Muhammad Zohaib (29 off 23) kept them going as they managed 50-1 in the powerplay.听
Rishad Hossain saw the back of Zohaib to instill further hope into the visitors before Tanzim Hasan got Rahul Chopra for 13.听
But that was the last wicket Bangladesh got in the night as Alishan and Asif added 87 runs off 51 balls in their unbroken partnership.听
Alishan, however, got a reprieve when Tanzid grassed one off Rishad Hossain. The leg-spinner was hit for three sixes in that over, which seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for Bangladesh.听
Earlier, after batting first for the third time, Bangladesh began to lose the plot.
Parvez Hossain, after hitting a hundred in his previous innings, saw the flipside of the coin when he holed out to long off on the first ball he faced.听
Liton Das seemed to be in good touch for a while before being trapped lbw while trying to sweep left-arm spinner Haider Ali in the fourth over.
Towhid Hridoy suffered the same fate while trying to dance down the wicket to make Haider鈥檚 first over a double-wicket maiden.听
Haider ended Mahedi Hasan鈥檚 miserable stay of nine balls, where he made two in his next over as Bangladesh became 49-4 at the end of the powerplay.听
Haider finished with a figure of 3-7 in four overs.听
Tanzid Hasan, who was batting with a completely different tempo, was the next batter to go after making 40 off 18 with four fours and the same number of sixes.
Tanzid dominated the leg side until pacer Akif Raja went over the wicket to angle one inside.听
Shamim Hossain had ample time to build an innings, but his stay was cut short as he chased a wide delivery off Matiullah Khan. Rishad Hossain became the pacer鈥檚 second victim.听
Tanzim was quite happy to give company to Jaker Ali before he went for a whack-off with Saghir Khan and was caught at long off. Bangladesh were 84-8 with six overs remaining.听
Jaker, Hasan, and Shoriful, though, had some other things to say. Jaker, after surviving two injury scars, added 44 runs off 26 balls with Hasan Mahmud for the ninth wicket.听
Jaker fell after making 41 off 34 with eight legitimate deliveries remaining in the innings. Those yielded 34 runs, while 26 came from the last over, which was bowled by two bowlers, as Muhammad Waseem, who came to bowl for the first time, bowled two high full tosses to get himself banned, and Alishan Sharafu.听
The last two wickets brought 78 runs for Bangladesh, the highest among the ICC full member nations in a T20I. Forty-two runs were scored between number nine, Hasan (26*), and Shoriful (16*), the fourth highest for a full-member nation.听
Hasan and Shoriful added 34 runs鈥攖he highest for the last wicket for Bangladesh.
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