Bangladesh v England, 2nd ODI - 5 Talking Points

The Bangladesh v England series has reached its zenith with the hosts pulling one back with a win in the second ODI. While Mahmudullah and Mashrafe Mortaza provided the fireworks for Bangladesh, Jos Buttler played a lone hand for England as they now find themselves playing the third match in a bid to decide the series. However, as far as the Bangladesh coaching staff is concerned, it would seem as though they have indeed carried out their catching practice. Here are five talking points from the recently-concluded encounter.

1. Mahmudullah impresses after England creates openings

Playing on a tough batting surface, the England seam bowlers began to wreck the Bangladesh top order. Imrul Kayes, the hero of the previous encounter and Tamim Iqbal, the highest run-getter for Bangladesh in ODIs were dismissed by some spectacular bowling from Chris Woakes. Jake Ball chipped in when he removed the solid Sabbir Rahman before Mushfiqur Rahim threw his wicket away.

However, in spite of this Mahmudullah stood up to the baptism of fire and held the innings together with a brisk 75 from 88 deliveries. His knock included 6 boundaries. The fact that he did not invest in the big hits showed that he was interested in taking calculated risks rather than smashing the ball a country mile.

2. Mashrafe Mortaza puts the England death bowlers to the sword

Death bowling is considered to be an art rather than a skill of late. The way Mashrafe Mortaza, the captain of Bangladesh batted underlined the very crux of that statement. From the word ‘go’, the Bangladesh skipper launched the ball well into the stands as he made up his mind.

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Perhaps the phrase running through would have been ‘make it happen, or die trying’. This worked for the most part as Mortaza’s swashbuckling effort saw him notch up 44 runs from just 29 deliveries. This included 3 massive hoicks into the stands.

3. Mortaza and Shakib rip through England top-order

While the skipper smashed the ball at will, little did the Brits know that he was about to pull an ‘Ian Botham’ on them. Similar to Botham, Mortaza chanced his arm with the ball. It yielded dividends in the first power play when he picked three wickets. Shakib-Al-Hasan, Mortaza’s deputy also impressed with some tight bowling as well as a wicket.

4. Bairstow and Buttler get the visitors back on track

Captaincy can be a very emotional job. As many saw in the first ODI, Jos Buttler was a man who seemed quite possessed about the extra burden on his head. However, things were to get a lot more interesting in the upcoming match at Mirpur. Having lost four quick wickets, it was up to Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler to make amends with the bat.

Needless to say, they added 79 runs for the fifth wicket and impressed with their individual batting acumen as well. Buttler managed a half-century before it all went awry for the visitors yet again.

Also read – Bangladesh v England, 2nd ODI Review: Bangladesh level the series with an exciting win

5. Rashid and Ball make things difficult for Bangladesh

While the wickets fell in tandem, England’s lowest of the lower-order batsmen still showed that they did indeed have a lot of fight left in them. This fight was embodied by the simple fact that Adil Rashid and Jake Ball displayed some impressive batsmanship to ensure that the Brits were well and truly in the encounter. While Jake Ball lost his wicket in the final delivery of the innings, Adil Rashid impressed with an unbeaten 33, something that may well push him up the batting order.