Tigers struggle to win first away series

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Mashrafee Bin Mortuza revived his damaged reputation as an all-rounder in the making to ensure Bangladesh’s first-ever away series victory as his well-composed unbeaten 43 took the Tigers to a narrow two-wicket victory against Kenya at the Nairobi Gymkhana ground yesterday.

The Tigers overcame a spirited Kenyan effort, mainly coming from all-rounder Thomas Odoyo who smashed 84 and took four wickets, to crawl to the target of 186 runs losing eight wickets, with four overs to spare. The victory gave Bangladesh a 2-0 lead in the three-match series after their six-wicket success in the first match on Saturday.

Mashrafee, coming in at number nine and with 65 runs remaining, mixed caution with aggression to guide the visitors to a nervy win after the fall of skipper Khaled Mashud.

Bangladesh faced the looming prospect of a defeat when they were reduced to 134-8. But Mashrafee in company with Abdur Razzak produced a scintillating 51 runs for the unbroken ninth wicket. Both played remarkably and the match ended, fittingly, with a Mashrafee boundary through the covers. He faced 53 balls and struck six fours. Razzak was his perfect foil, scoring 14 off 23 deliveries with one boundary and a massive six.

The two lower-order batsmen were left to do the dirty job after the more established Tigers batsmen fell again to some poor shots, even though they were chasing a modest target. Aftab Ahmed played with some responsibility and scored 38 off 68 balls but fell to a pull-shot.

Earlier, Left-arm seamer Syed Rasel demolished the Kenyan batting with four wickets for 22 at the top of the innings as the Kenyans collapsed to six for 45 in the 14th over.

Mashrafee, the batting hero and later adjudged man-of-the-match, took three for 53, while a miser Abdur Razzak continued his good form taking two for 21.

The final match of the series takes place at the same ground on August 15, concluding the Tigers tour to the African continent.

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