Ahead of their T20 World Cup debut, USA have sounded alarms for top teams. USA team which features a blend of local talent, former Indian players and a Corey Anderson handed Bangladesh a shock defeat in Houston on May 21. After restricting visitors Bangladesh for 153/6, Anderson and former Indian all-rounder Harmeet Singh's unbeaten 62-run partnership from just 28 balls helped them win by five wickets with three overs to spare.
Bangladesh post mediocre total
United States skipper Monank Patel won the toss and opted to field first at Prairie View Cricket Complex. Litton Das and Soumya Sarkar got the visitors off to a good start. Jessy Singh dismissed Das for lbw in the fifth over. In the next over, Sarkar departed for a 13-ball 20 as he got caught at deep square leg attempted a sweep against Steven Taylor. Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto struggled to rotate strike and got stumped in Taylor's second over for an 11-ball three.
Bangladesh batters struggled to find boundaries in the middle overs. Shakib Al Hasan got run out in the 12th over to make matters worse. Towhid Hridoy tried to accelerate and had the support of Mahmudullah. Hridoy reached his half-century from 40 balls in the 18th over. In the penultimate over, Saurabh Netravalkar got the wicket of Mahmudullah who scored 31 runs from 22 balls. In the last over, Jaker Ali hit a couple of boundaries. Hridoy lost his wicket on the final delivery. He scored 58 runs from 47 balls including four fours and a couple of sixes. Bangladesh managed to post 153/6.
Bangladesh bowlers dominate
USA's run chase got off to a good start but skipper Patel got run out as Shoriful Islam deflected the ball to stumps at non-striker's end on follow-through. Taylor hit the first six of the innings off Shakib. Rishad Hossain in the ninth over dismissed Andries Gous. He scored 23 runs from 18 balls. The required run rate kept climbing up. Mustafizur Rahman came back into the attack and struck twice. Taylor departed for a 29-ball 28 whereas Aaron Jones could score just four runs from 12 balls. Shorfiul ended Nitish Kumar's stay at the crease in the 15th over.
Harmeet, Anderson stun Bangladesh
Harmeet and Anderson faced an uphill task in the slog overs. In the 17th over, harmeet hit Mustafizur for two consecutive sixes. He made Shoriful's last over a big one as well. 24 runs were needed in the last overs. Anderson hit a six off the fifth ball of the penultimate over bowled by Mustafizur. In the final over, nine runs were needed. Anderson started with a six against Mahmudullah. He took a single and then Harmeet finished the run chase with a boundary to register USA's maiden T2OI victory against a Test-playing nation. Anderson remained unbeaten for 25-ball 35 whereas Harmeet played a match-winning 13-ball 33 cameo.
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