Mustafizur Rahman became the first Bangladesh men's bowler to take six wickets in a T20I as his variations left USA's batting order flummoxed to pave the way for a 10-wicket win for the visitors in the final T20I at Prairie View Cricket Complex.

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna in Prairie View, Texas (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
The Fizz went pop in a big way on Saturday morning at Prairie View Cricket Complex as Bangladesh’s star left-arm fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman took the best ever T20I figures by a Bangladeshi bowler, and eighth best all time in men’s T20Is, to lead a one-sided rout of USA by 10 wickets in the third and final T20I between the two sides. Mustafizur began with a wicket maiden and capped off his spell with two more wickets in the final over of the innings to end with figures of 6 for 10 which played a sizable part in restricting USA to 104 for 9 in their 20 overs after the hosts were sent in at the toss. It only took the opening combo of Tanzid Hasan and Soumya Sarkar 11.4 overs to knock off the required runs to clinch victory in front of a heavily pro Bangladesh crowd of around 2,000 fans in Texas. 
 
The carnage wrought by Mustafizur looked highly unlikely at the start of proceedings when USA got off to a rocket-booster of a start behind a 46-run opening stand between Andries Gous and Shayan Jahangir that spanned the first 29 legal balls of the innings. Gous and Jahangir opened in place of Monank Patel and Steven Taylor, who were both rested along with Ali Khan and Harmeet Singh after USA had already clinched a series victory following wins in the first two matches of the series. Jahangir came into the USA XI along with Milind Kumar, Nosthush Kenjige and Nisarg Patel. But it was Jahangir who made the biggest impact of the four swapped players during his opening stand with Gous. 
 
Two boundaries by Jahangir off of pace bowler Hasan Mahmud in the second over got USA’s innings into gear before Gous clattered four boundaries in the third over off Tanzim Sakib, including three in a row. Jahangir then took over again in the fifth with a six heaved over midwicket off of Shakib Al Hasan. Gous survived a chance on 23 in the fifth off Shakib when a low drive was misjudged and spilled at extra cover. Gous struck the next ball for four but then departed on the final ball of the over from Shakib when he tried to clear the infield ring with a drive but skied a catch to mid-off for 27. 
 
Mustafizur arrived for the end of the Powerplay and a wicket maiden bowled to Jahangir and Milind Kumar swung the pendulum firmly back toward Bangladesh. Jahangir fell pulling straight to deep square leg for 18 and after dot ball pressure was built up superbly by legspinner Rishad Hossain across the next several overs, Mustafizur was brought back for his second over in the 10^th where he struck again getting Nitish Kumar to edge a cut behind for 3 making it 56 for 3 at the halfway mark of the innings. 
 
Aaron Jones fell in identical fashion to Jahangir, though it was Tanzim Sakib who was pulled to deep square leg for 2 to make it 60 for 4 after 12. Milind’s painstaking innings finally came to an end for 7 off 20 balls in the 13^th when he flicked Rishad to deep midwicket making it 60 for 5. 
 
Shadley van Schalkwyk and Corey Anderson then teamed up for a 32-run partnership to help USA save face on a day when they were overmatched. Van Schalkwyk survived a chance on 5 when Soumya badly misjudged a chance coming in off the long-off rope to turn a catch into a drop and boundary off the bowling of Mahmud. Anderson then struck a four and six off of Tanzim Sakib in the following over, a 13-run frame and USA’s biggest since the Powerplay. 
 
But Mustafizur struck back one over later in the 18^th to remove both set batters. Van Schalkwyk went first for 12, bowled by a length ball that skidded a touch low. Anderson followed him two balls later for 18 when his attempt at running a length ball off the open face of the bat to third man instead resulted in an inside edge dragged onto the stumps to make it 94 for 7. The Fizz capped off his day with two more in the final over. Jessy Singh was bowled by a slower ball for 6 on the fourth ball of the over before Nisarg Patel fell for 2 on the last ball of the innings slicing a heave to short third man. Mustafizur became the first Bangladeshi men’s bowler to take a six-wicket haul in T20Is and broke the previous mark for the best figures in men’s T20Is for Bangladesh that was held by Elias Sunny, who took 5 for 13 against Ireland at Belfast in 2012. 
 
Aside from Mustafizur’s haul, Rishad Hossain bowled an outstanding spell of controlled legspin to finish with 1 for 7 in four overs including a maiden. Shakib finished with 1 for 23 in his three overs while Tanzim Sakib claimed 1 for 32 in four overs and also bowled a maiden. Hasan Mahmud returned 0 for 19 in three overs while Mahmudullah bowled an uneventful two overs that conceded 11 runs. 
 
Bangladesh’s chase was a chanceless one. Tanzid Hasan struck two fours off of Saurabh Netravalkar to get early momentum started before Soumya got into the act with a four and six off of van Schalkwyk in the third. A rare five occurred in the fourth when Jahangir’s overeager attempt at a runout off a tip and run single by Tanzid resulted in Jahangir sailing an underarm flick not just past Gous behind the stumps but well wide of Netravalkar backing up resulting in overthrows to the boundary. 
 
Tanzid and Soumya cruised along collecting at least one boundary an over until the ninth when Netravalkar returned and was clobbered for six by each batter during a 17-run over. Tanzid brought up his half-century off 39 balls with a single in the 11^th before launching Kenjige for six later in the same over. A pair of singles off of Nisarg leveled the scores in the 12^th before Soumya drove the winning boundary through the legs of Jones at cover. Tanzid finished unbeaten on 58 off 42 balls with five fours and three sixes while Soumya made 43 not out off 28 balls with four fours and two sixes.
 
Milind Kumar was the only USA bowler to bowl a full quota as he finished with 0 for 25 sending down his offspin to the left-handed Bangladesh combo in a matchup ploy that failed to reap rewards for USA. Six other bowlers were used, with nobody but the new ball combo of Netravalkar and Jessy Singh bowling more than one over. 
 
At the post-match presentation, Mustafizur not only picked up the award for Player of the Match but also walked away with Player of the Series honors despite being on the losing side. Mustafizur ended the three-match series with 10 wickets at an average of 8.20. The next closest player on either side took four wickets. 
 
USA travels to Dallas on Sunday where they will be based for a week of training and warm-up matches ahead of the opening night of the World Cup on June 1 when they take on Canada at Grand Prairie Stadium. USA’s two official warm-up matches at Grand Prairie Stadium will be against Bangladesh on May 28 and Nepal on May 30.