The second ODI between Bangladesh and England at Mirpur was an absolute edge of the seat thriller as the hosts prevailed in a low scoring thriller. Bowling has been a massive strength for Bangladesh since the last year and that was obvious yet again, as the Mashrafe Mortaza led unit stepped up to the task and successfully defended 239.
England were rocked quite early into the chase as Mortaza and Shakib Al Hasan dismantled the English top order. Skipper Jos Buttler brought in some hopes with his resilient half century as he employed aggression to perfection. Buttler though, didn’t find enough support from the other end. Once Buttler was dismissed by Taskin Ahmed, it was just a matter of time before the visitors imploded. A few ugly scenes were witnessed as the Bangladeshi players celebrated right into Buttler’s face, that seriously annoyed the England captain.
In the post match presentation, Buttler slammed the Bangladeshi players for their celebration. “Disappointed,” said Buttler. “I think we were a bit tentative with the way we went about it. Yeah 238 was very chaseable. It was a good wicket. We bowled fantastically well upfront. We could’ve restricted them to 190-200 but Mashrafe played really well. I felt that it wasn’t easy to bat initially. Disappointed with the way Bangladesh celebrated,” Buttler said.
Mentioning that it had been a tough game, Buttler added, “It’s been tough. We had high hopes of winning this game and go 2-0 in the series. Conditions are hard for us and I’m very proud of the guys. Just a blip, 240 is one of those targets where you can chase it in 49 overs or so. But today is not our day,” Buttler summed up.
Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza was named the Man of the Match for his performance, and he was delighted with the performance. “Very happy that we are on the winning side. Congrats to the boys. If you look at the first game that we lost, it was really a professional match. Luckily it has helped the team. I’am happy that I got the wickets as well. I played my natural shots and I was lucky that it came off,” said Mortaza.