Renshaw’s career-best powers Australia to historic T20I series triumph over Bangladesh

After losing the ODI series, Australia have made a remarkable comeback in the T20Is with a seven-run series-sealing victory in the second match against Bangladesh on Friday, June 19 at Bir Sreshtho Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman Stadium, Chattogram.

After opting to bat first, Australia posted a good score of 196/5 in their allotted 20 overs, courtesy of a career-best performance from Matt Renshaw, while Tim David also scored a valuable 45 (26).

In reply, Bangladesh came close to chasing down the target, after contributions from Tanzid Hasan Tamim (30 off 15), Saif Hassan (42 off 33), Parvez Hossain Emon (36 off 22), Towhid Hridoy (35 off 22), but eventually fell eight runs short.

With 18 runs needed off the last three balls, captain Towhid Hridoy hit Aaron Hardie (2/40) for a six, followed by a boundary, before being caught at long on on the last delivery. As a result, Bangladesh finished their innings on 189/6 in their 20 overs as Australia registered a thrilling seven-run win.

Courtesy of their victory, Australia registered their maiden T20I series win over Bangladesh, taking an unassailable 2-0 lead, with the third and final T20I scheduled to be played on Sunday, June 21.

Top run-scorer of the Match

Top wicket-taker of the Match

Player of the Match

Matt Renshaw was deservedly adjudged Player of the Match for his career-best innings of 89* (52), laced with four fours and five sixes. The southpaw had a slowish start to his innings, before he took on Rishad Hossain and whacked him for a hat—trick of sixes to bring up his second T20I fifty off 29 balls. After his massive 97-run stand with Tim David for the fourth wicket, he also added 42 runs for the sixth wicket with Joe Davis (13* off 8) to give a perfect finish to Australia’s innings. 

Turning Point

Bangladesh were all over Australia inside the powerplay, reducing them to 44/3 in the first six overs. Seeing their team in desperate need of a partnership, Matt Renshaw (89* off 52) and Tim David (45 off 26) got involved in a massive 97-run stand off 50 balls that propelled their team’s score past 190.

In the second innings, Bangladesh’s chase was on track as Parvez Hossain Emon (36 off 22) and Saif Hassan (42 off 33) had added 53 runs for the third wicket off 35 balls, with their team on 130/2 after 12.4 overs. However, the duo was dismissed in the space of four balls, which allowed Australia to claw back into the game and eventually register a win.

What did the captains say:

Winning Captain, Mitchell Marsh (Australia):  

It's been great. Obviously, really keen to win this series and to wrap it up after two games is really pleasing for our side. (Asked about last tour to Bangladesh) Yeah, I think it was 4-1 last time and the one win we had was very, very lucky. So, it's obviously nice to win, but one more game to go for us. Yeah, the wicket today was obviously a lot better, but, really happy for (Matt) Rensaw, especially that partnership with TD (Tim David) was fantastic. The way they sort of got us out of a reasonably tricky position and then, went through the gears and got us to a really competitive total. (Hardie) He was good. It's always nice when those ones come off, but I think all the bowlers, the way they sort of worked through their sequences and stayed calm under pressure, especially towards the back end. Nathan Ellis with the last two overs was really game changing for us and we're lucky to have guys like him with his experience in the group. So, yeah, wrapped for the team and it's nice to get a series win over here. (Will be nice to finish with a win?) Yeah, on a whole, it's, for the one day groups, it's been a reasonably tough tour. Coming to these places with a reasonably inexperienced side always provides you with different challenges, different experiences. So, yeah really keen to finish off with a win and everyone can go home.

Losing Captain, Towhid Hridoy (Bangladesh):

Yep, we played really good cricket, but a couple of areas we need to improve. (What are the areas to improve?) We need to carry a little bit more for the team. (Lost two wickets in two overs) That's what we are talking about actually, whenever they get set, we need to dig a bigger innings here. (Good effort from you in the end) So far so good, but we have to chase this kind of match, otherwise we cannot. Yeah, we will work on it for the final game.