All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan took four wickets as Bangladesh skittled out Australia for his or her lowest ever Twenty20 International total of 62 to seal the series 4-1 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Monday.
Chasing 123 for victory, the visitors crashed call at 13.4 overs with Shakib returning figures of 4-9 together with his left-arm spin within the 60-run rout in Dhaka.
Australia’s previous lowest was 79 all out against England at Southampton in 2005.
Bangladesh, who had secured their first series convert Australia after winning the opening three matches, bounced back from their previous loss to flatten the opposition batting.
“The boys showed tons of character and hunger to win a series against a team like Australia,” home skipper Mahmudullah said after the triumph. “We executed our plans rather well . Obviously it had been hard for the batters, but we did well to stay getting 120-130. All the bowlers worked rather well together.”
He added: “We always felt that in our backyard we are a really good team. We can’t let anything go past. Though the ranking doesn’t show it, I even have always felt we’ve excellent potential to be a really good team in T20 internationals.”
Pace bowler Mohammad Saifuddin combined with Shakib to rattle Australia with twin strikes in one over and remit Alex Carey and Moises Henriques, both for 3 .
Shakib, who became the second bowler to require 100 T20 wickets, after Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga when he got Ashton Turner out, wiped off the tail with the wickets of Nathan Ellis and Adam Zampa as Bangladesh celebrated.
The 34-year-old Shakib, a veteran of 58 Tests, 258 One-day Internationals and 84 T20 Internationals, said he’s ‘still enjoying the game’.
Spinner Nasum Ahmed had done the first damage when he bowled Dan Christian for 3 then trapped the in-form Mitchell Marsh for four in successive overs.
Skipper Matthew Wade (22) and Ben McDermott fought back with a 21-run represent the third wicket but Mahmudullah broke the partnership. He got McDermott caught and bowled for 17.
“I’ve played for a couple of years now, certainly the toughest conditions to play T20 cricket in,” said a disappointed Wade. “Great learning for kids .”
Earlier Mohammad Naim made 23 in Bangladesh’s 122 for eight after electing to bat.
Christian, who took a world scalp after seven years, and seamer Nathan Ellis took two wickets each
