Bangladesh’s winning streak in One-Day International (ODI) series’ at home came to a screeching halt on Friday, when they suffered a thumping 132-run defeat against England in the second ODI of the three-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.
Jason Roy’s century, 132 off 128 balls, and skipper Joss Buttler’s half-century, 76 off 64 balls, powered England to a mammoth 326-7 in their 50 overs.
Bangladesh needed to pull off their highest ever chase at the SBNS to square up the series. But the Tigers fell woefully short of their target, getting bundled out for 194 in 44.4 overs.
Shakib Al Hasan top scored with 58 off 69 while skipper Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah made 35 and 32 respectively but their efforts fell woefully short.
Sam Curran and Adil Rashid took four wickets each for England but it was the former’s three early strikes that took the wind out of the Bangladesh chase.
England had earlier won the first ODI by three wickets and have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
This is also Bangladesh’s first defeat in a bilateral ODI series at home after seven successive wins.
Their previous series defeat was also against England, back in 2016.
On Friday, any chance of Bangladesh chasing down the target was shot down inside the first three overs, when Curran struck thrice in his first two overs.
Curran, who didn’t play in the first ODI, dismissed Liton Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto in consecutive deliveries for golden ducks in the first over of the innings.
Mushfiqur Rahim took three runs off the hat-trick ball, but fell victim to the same bowler in his next over.
Shakib joined Tamim with just nine runs on the scoreboard. The veteran batters stayed together for 110 balls and added 79 runs.
But the partnership ended when Tamim attempted a lofted shot off Moeen Ali only to find James Vince at long-off.
Shakib kept batting positively, completing his fifty off 59 balls, before giving a simple catch to Curran off Rashid in the 28th over.
Bangladesh didn’t have enough firepower down the order to chase the target. Afif Hossain made 23 off 33 balls and Taskin Ahmed made an entertaining 21 off 21 balls but it only reduced the margin of defeat.
Sam Curran claimed his fourth and Bangladesh’s final wicket, Mustafizur Rahman (0), to put Bangladesh out of their misery.
Earlier, England made a quiet start, scoring just 40-1 in the first powerplay. Taskin took the first English wicket when he nicked off Phil Salt for seven.
Last match’s centurion Dawid Malan (11 off 19 balls) and James Vince (five off 16 balls) also didn’t bother the scorer’s for too long, getting dismissed by Miraz and Taijul Islam respectively.
The fall of wickets, however, didn’t slow down Roy, who joined hands with Buttler and gave the scoring rate a much needed boost after a slow start with a 109-run stand off 93 balls for the fourth wicket.
As time wore on, shot-making looked easier on the pitch and the Bangladesh bowlers struggled to keep the English batter quiet.
After completing his century off 104 balls, Roy hit the accelerator, hitting Shakib for two fours in an over and striking three off Taskin inside six balls.
Shakib ended Roy’s barrage, trapping him leg-before wicket. Buttler and Moeen Ali then added 52 runs off 42 balls for the sixth wicket, bringing up his half-century in the process.
Buttler’s hit Miraz for back to back sixes but the bowler had the last laugh as he completed a brilliant return catch to send back the English skipper.
But Buttler’s departure didn’t hamper England’s scoring rate, as Moeen made 42 off 35 balls and Sam Curran hit an unbeaten 32 off 19 balls to take the English to a daunting total.
Both teams will now travel to Chattogram for the dead rubber third ODI on Monday.