Bangladesh Under-23 survived a mid-innings collapse to beat Malaysia by three wickets in the second One-Day at the Bashundhara Sports Complex on Friday, sealing the three-match series with one game to spare.
Chasing 177, Bangladesh lost half their side for just 58 runs. Ahrar Amin and Debashis Sarkar then steadied the innings with a 92-run sixth-wicket partnership to take their side close to victory.
Debashis was the more aggressive of the pair, scoring 58 from 41 balls with five fours and four sixes. He was eventually dismissed for 58 while attempting a reverse sweep against Vijay Unni.
Ahrar stayed until the end, finishing unbeaten on 57 from 76 balls. His innings ensured Bangladesh avoided any further trouble after Mahfuzur Rahman Rabby was dismissed for five.
Bangladesh had lost opener Adil Bin Siddiq from the first ball of the chase, trapped lbw by Malaysia captain Syed Aziz. Kalam Siddiqui then fell to Arif Ullah in the following over.
Iqbal Hosen and captain Rizan Hossain briefly rebuilt the innings with a 38-run partnership from 30 balls. Iqbal was dismissed for 26 from 26 balls by Prashant Madhukar, who also removed Mohammad Abdullah for a first-ball duck in the same over.
Rizan soon followed for 18, leaving Bangladesh five wickets down inside 14 overs.
Earlier, Malaysia had made an excellent start after being put into bat. Aslam Khan and Saif Ullah added a strong opening partnership, taking the score to 103 for one before 20 overs.
Bangladesh’s breakthrough came through Sheikh Parvez Jibon, who dismissed Saif for 25 from 49 balls before removing Syed Aziz soon afterwards.
From there, wickets fell regularly around Aslam. The opener continued to hold the innings together and eventually completed his century from 107 balls, hitting 10 fours and four sixes.
Aslam was dismissed for exactly 100 as the ninth Malaysian wicket. No other Malaysian batter scored more than 25, with eight players failing to reach double figures.
Malaysia were eventually bowled out for 176 inside 40 overs. Parvez finished with five wickets for 23 runs, his second consecutive five-wicket haul in the series, while Shadhin Islam claimed two wickets.
Bangladesh’s three leading scorers made 142 of Malaysia’s 176 runs, with the other eight batters contributing just 16. Extras added 18.
The victory gives Bangladesh U23 an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, with the third and final ODI still to come.
