Published on 04:52 PM, March 14, 2023

Taskin's double blow tilts match in Bangladesh's favour

Mustafizur Rahman dismissed Dawid Malan to get to his 100th T20I wickets. Photo: Firoz Ahmed

Taskin Ahmed bowled a brilliant 17th over, dismissing Moeen Ali and Sam Curran to shift the fate of the third T20I all but decisively in favour of Bangladesh.

The tearaway pacer had Ali caught at deep mid-wicket in the second delivery of the over before bowling out Curran in the last delivery as England were 123 for five in 17 overs.   

Earlier, left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman had Dawid Malan caught behind to become the fastest Bangladeshi to 100 T20I wickets. Mustafizur joined the 100-wicket club in his 81st match, eclipsing Shakib Al Hasan who reached the milestone in his 84th match. Shakib, playing his 112th match today, has 130 T20I wickets to his name.

Malan had scored 53 off 47 deliveries. England then lost skipper Jos Buttler in the next delivery, chasing 159 runs to avoid a rare series whitewash. Buttler was run-out by Mehedi Hasan Miraz for 40 off 31 deliveries as England reached 100 for three after 13.2 overs.   

England were in a better position earlier on as they required 87 runs from last 60 deliveries.

Debutant Tanvir Islam gave Bangladesh an early breakthrough, sending back Phil Salt in the first over of the innings. Photo: Firoz Ahmed

The last time the current world champions suffered a series whitewash in this format were in 2014 when they lost 3-0 against Australia. Now they are staring at a series whitewash against Bangladesh, ranked ninth in this format.

Earlier, Tanvir took out Salt in the first over of England's chase after Bangladesh posted 158, thanks to 73 runs off 57 deliveries from opener Liton Das. After being hit for a boundary off the first ball, Tanvir came back and had Salt stumped for a duck as England were in early trouble, before Buttler and Malan came to their rescue.