Christian's carnage helps Australia win a low scoring thriller

SCORECARD

In what should have been a straightforward chase, Bangladesh complicated things for Australia with their resistance with the ball. However, a total of 104 on the board posted by the hosts after opting to bat first, left little to no room for the bowlers to force the result in their favour. They did make life difficult for the Australian batters who got over the line with just 3 wickets in hand and an over to spare.

Bangladesh encountered early troubles with a lack of timing and limited scoring opportunities. Opener Soumya Sarkar (8) was the first to perish - a cross-batted shot that induced the top-edge was comfortably caught by Alex Carey off Josh Hazelwood’s bowling.

Australia continued to have a stronghold over the run rate. Shakib Al Hasan struggled to break free. Batting at a strike rate of 57.69, Shakib could only manage 15 runs before edging it to Matthew Wade.

The introduction of Mitchell Swepson made things worse for the hosts. In his second spell, Swepson picked the wickets of Mahmudullah and Nurul Hasan, both for nought and trapped leg-before in successive deliveries.

A couple of cameos from Afif Hossain (20) and Mahedi Hasan (23) got the hosts to 104/9 with 14 off those coming in the final over. Andrew Tye and Swepson claimed three wickets apiece.

Dan Christian was given a promotion to bat at number three and turned the tables around for Australia who lost captain Wade in the first over. A day before when Australia failed to score 22 runs in the final two overs with Dan Christian at the crease, he turned around the corner blazing Shakib for five sixes in an over.

Subsequently, Ben McDermott was removed leg-before wicket by Nasum Ahmed for 5 runs in 12 balls. Then, Christian’s wicket soon followed. Mustafizur Rahman claimed his wicket after a brutal 15-ball 39 when Christian looked to slash the ball but found Shamim Hossain at backward point.

Australia were 49/3 at the end of the Powerplay and needed a gettable 56 runs in 14 overs. Bangladesh cracked open the game with a couple of breakthroughs - Moises Henriques (1) run-out and Alex Carey’s leg-before meant that half the visitors' side was back in the pavilion.

With 20 runs needed off the final five, the nerves were showing at the end but Ashton Agar's run-a-ball 27 took Australia to their first win of the series with an over to spare.