The United States of America (USA), ranked 19th in T20Is, sent a word of caution to all the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 participants as they registered their maiden win over Bangladesh in the shortest format of the game.
This is USA's maiden win over the Bangla Tigers in any format of the game and has given them a 1-0 lead in the three-match bilateral contest.
The coin fell in favour of the USA skipper Monank Patel and he chose to field first. Both Bangladesh openers got starts but failed to capitalise on it and the USA struck in quick succession to send them packing.
Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto fell cheaply as he was stumped while trying to take on off-break bowler Steven Taylor. With Bangladesh in a spot of bother, Towhid Hridoy came to their rescue and scored a hard-fought half-century (58 off 47 balls).
He struck four boundaries and a couple of sixes during his knock and stabilised the innings after an early stutter. Veteran allrounder Mahmudullah played a valiant knock of 31 off 22 deliveries and helped the tourists post a respectable total of 153 on the board.
Taylor was the pick of all the USA bowlers as he bagged 2/9 in his three-over spell and played a significant role in strangulating the opponents.
USA's chase began on a disappointing note as they lost Taylor early. Bangladesh came back strongly and removed the top and the middle order of the USA to set the cat among the pigeons.
However, two experienced campaigners, Harmeet Singh and Corey Anderson joined hands in the middle and stitched a 62-run stand for the sixth wicket to help the USA script history at the Prarie View Cricket Complex in Houston.
While Anderson scored 34* off 25 balls, Harmeet played an unbeaten cameo of 33 off just 13 balls at a strike rate of 253.84.
