Plenty of adrenaline poured in the first T20 international at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong where Bangladesh came close to T20 victory over a major Test playing nation. Till date, Bangladesh’s 32-match statistics show the Tigers have won nine times, twice against West Indies and Zimbabwe.
Bangladesh is still to register a win against Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka in the latest edition of the game and it was almost attained yesterday. Though Bangladesh lost the game, it had all the ingredients to call it a thriller - number of spectacular efforts, vibrant gallery and of course lot of tensions.
The crowd was at their feet when Bangladesh captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza dislodged the woodwork of Tillakaratne Dilshan in the very first over. The 17000+ crowd will relish the memory of three stunning catches grabbed by Farhad Reza, Nasir Hossain and Anamul Haque. Farhad’s one may be graded a little down, but it would be difficult to rank the efforts of Nasir and Anamul and put more marks on one. Nasir’s aerial diving effort to oust Sangakkara and Anamul’s one footed balancing act to send Kusal Perera back will be memorised for a long time.
There were a large group of Sri Lankan expatriates in the stands who were out cheered by their local opponents throughout the match. However the last laugh belonged to the Sri Lankan supporters.
Probably the brilliant catches taken by the Bangladeshis spurred the visitors as they also showed “Hum Kissise Kum Nahin” when Angelo Mathews pulled out a stunning catch running back to send Tamim Iqbal back. Thisara Perera’s short one found Tamim’s leading edge only to see the Sri Lankan captain run back and stretch at full lengths to hold on to the catch.
Bangladesh’s run chase also went through few ups and downs and it came down to the wire in the last over. With 17 needed in the last over, 21-year-old Anamul clobbered three superb boundaries off Thisara to take the home side on the edge of a memorable victory. The right-handed was well set in the middle and with three needed off the last ball it was anyone’s game.
However, the controversial last ball full-toss, which nine out of ten times would be sent over the ropes, was top edged for a comfortable catch by the bowler himself. The thousands inside the stadium chanted “no-ball, no-ball” and the win for a moment was delayed as the umpires reconfirmed the deliver. In the end it was the visitors who left the field smiling with the narrow win.
