DHAKA: Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj has become his country’s leading wicket-taker in ODIs this year. The 28 year old pacer accomplished this landmark during India’s second ODI against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Wednesday.
In the match, Siraj took two wickets, conceding a total of 73 runs in his ten overs.
This year, the right-arm bowler has been impressive for India in colored clothing. In 14 ODI matches, he has taken 23 wickets at an average of 23.34, with an economy rate of 4.58. His best bowling figures this year are 3/29.
Behind Siraj is spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (21 wickets). Prasidh Krishna (19 wickets) and Shardul Thakur (19 wickets) are also two of Siraj’s closest rivals in the list.
In the overall list of top wicket-takers, Siraj is the joint-ninth highest wicket-taker alongside Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan and GT Main of Scotland, who also have 23 scalps each. The leading wicket-taker in ODIs this year is Oman’s Bilal Khan, who has taken 43 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 16.86 and an economy rate of 4.90, with best bowling figures of 5/31.
Bangladesh survived a late blitz from an injured Rohit Sharma to secure a narrow five-run win to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series at the Shere Bangla National Stadium here on Wednesday.
Bangladesh now has an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series.
Opting to bat first, Bangladesh was off to a bad start and were reduced to 69/6. From that point, Mehidy Hasan Miraz (100*) and Mahmudullah (77) put a match-winning stand of 148 runs for the seventh wicket that powered their side to 271/7 in their 50 overs.
Washington Sundar (3/37) was the pick of the bowlers for India. Mohammed Siraj and Umran Malik also took two wickets.
Chasing 272, India was also reduced to 65/4 due to some fantastic bowling by Bangladesh. Shreyas Iyer (82) continued his golden run with the bat, putting a 107-run stand with bowling all-rounder Axar Patel (56) for the fifth wicket. After these two batters were dismissed, Bangladesh seemed to have made a comeback in the game.
However, skipper Rohit came down the order with an injured thumb and almost stole the game from Bangladesh, smashing an unbeaten 51 off 28 balls with three fours and five sixes. But a maiden 48th over played by Mohammed Siraj and bowled by Mustafizur Rahman boosted Bangladesh’s chances of winning.
However, Rohit carried on with his carnage, but Mustafizur held his nerves to defend 20 runs in the last over to pull off a memorable win.
Ebadot Hossain (3/45), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (2/46) were impressive for Bangladesh. Shakib also picked up two scalps while Mustafizur and Mahmudullah got one wicket each.
Mehidy’s all-round performance earned him the ‘Man of the Match’ title. (ANI)