“Everyone has taken note of our fielding in these three games. We fielded better than England, who are also a good fielding team. It is a large checkmark. Shakib Al Hasan stated after the game that, considering all aspects, the team’s greatest progress was in its fielding.
Bangladesh made history on March 14 by sweeping England 3-0 in a Twenty20 International series after defeating them by 16 runs in the third T20. Since 2014, this was the first time England was swept in a three-match T20I series. In the first-ever T20I series between the two nations, Bangladesh dominated and won the first two matches by six and four wickets, respectively. Following his team’s amazing performance against the World Champions, skipper Shakib Al Hasan stated that their fielding was the deciding factor in the series and set the goal of becoming Asia’s top fielding side.
“We must always field well, but our goal is to be the finest fielding team in Asia. I do not believe we are too far behind after this performance,” he continued.
In the third match played at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh scored 158/2 in the first innings after England put them in. Jos Buttler (40* off 31 balls) and Dawid Malan (53 off 46 balls) were at the crease for England when they were 100/1 after 13 overs, cruising in response.
Nevertheless, both were bowled by consecutive deliveries in the 14th over, sparking a collapse in England’s batting as they ended their innings with 142 runs all out. On his team’s approach when batting first, Shakib stated that they did not know what a good score on that pitch would be.
“On this pitch, we did not know how many runs were sufficient. So, we were extremely open-minded,” Shakib remarked. “Initially, we believed 140 to be a good score. Then, we believed that our final score would be between 170 and 180. We didn’t get many runs in the last five overs, but we batted well in the powerplay and middle overs.”
Shanto and Litton put pressure on England: Shakib Al Hasan
“They have seven or eight proper bowlers so we had to struggle at least once in the innings. The way Rony and Litton started and then Shanto and Litton develop the innings, especially their running between the wickets, it was brilliant. The way they turned ones into twos and twos into threes, it put England under pressure,” he continued.
Litton Das was named Player of the Match for his knock of 73 off 57 in the third T20I, while Najmul Hossain Shanto was named Player of the Series for ending as the highest run scorer with 144 runs at an average of 144 and a strike rate of 127.43 across three matches.
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