After losing the series to the USA with defeats in their first two games, Bangladesh, powered by Mustafizur Rahman’s six-wicket haul, hit back in the final T20I to win the match in a comprehensive fashion.

Mustafizur (6-10) registered his career-best figures and also the best figures for Bangladesh in T20I cricket as the USA were restricted to 104/9. Bangladesh then rode on an unbroken century stand between Tanzid Hasan (58* off 42) and Soumya Sarkar (43* off 28) to win by 10 wickets with 8.2 overs to spare.

After being asked to bat, the USA got off to a positive start as their openers Andries Gous and Shayan Jahangir struck regular boundaries to put on a brisk 46-run stand. But Shakib Al Hasan provided the breakthrough by having Gous toe-end a slog-sweep to dismiss him for 27 off 15. Mustafizur came on in the final over of the powerplay, and accounted for Jahangir to start off with a wicket maiden. He then got rid of Nitish Kumar in the 10th over, with the USA crawling to 56/3.

Rishad Hossain (1-7 in 4 overs) did a good job of keeping the USA’s scoring in check in the middle overs before Mustafizur came on in the death and ensured the hosts did not get a flourishing finish.

Corey Anderson struck a four and a six off Tanzim Hasan Sakib in the 17th over before Mustafizur bagged his wicket in the 18th, after having dismissed Shadley van Schalkwyk in the same over. He then picked up the scalps of Jessy Singh and Nisarg Patel in the last over as the USA finished with a below-par total, managing only 15 runs in the last three overs for four wickets.

Tanzid got Bangladesh going in the chase with two fours off Saurabh Netravalkar in the first over. Sarkar hit a four and a six off van Schalkwyk in the third over to get a move on after scoring only 3 off his first 6 deliveries. Bangladesh reached 48 at the end of the powerplay before scoring even quicker in the ensuing period to race to the target.

Tanzid reached a 39-ball fifty and finished with 5 fours and 3 sixes in his unbeaten knock. Sarkar hit 2 sixes and 4 fours, including the winning boundary in the 12th over, as he finished on 43 not out off 28 to help Bangladesh complete a commanding victory.

Brief scores: USA 104/9 in 20 overs (Andries Gous 27; Mustafizur Rahman 6-10) lost to Bangladesh 108/0 in 11.4 overs (Tanzid Hasan 58*, Soumya Sarkar 43*) by 10 wickets.

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