A record-breaking Nathan Lyon and resilient David Warner led Australia to a brilliant turn-around from their disappointing showing at Dhaka, where Bangladesh edged them by 4 runs.
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Nathan Lyon picked up a record 13 wickets, to become the only visiting player alongside Ian Botham to achieve this feat, while David Warner batted out of his skin in testing conditions in Chittagong, as his 123 in the 1st innings helped Australia get on the front-foot in the Test match.
This comes as only the 3rd victory by the Australian team in Tests in Asia since 2010, as the Australians will be pretty pleased for their amazing turnaround after getting defeated at Dhaka.
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Bangladeshi captain, Mushfiqur Rahim had won the toss at the beginning of the game, before Bangladesh got off to a poor start. Nathan Lyon trapped Tamim and Kayes lbw early, before Sarkar and Mominul suffered the same fate for modest scores around lunch.
Just when Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan were looking to get a partnership, the latter was caught behind off Agar for 24.
Rahim was joined by Sabbir Rahman, as the duo helped get the hosts out of trouble with a 68 and 65-run knock respectively. However, Lyon accounted for the wickets of both of them, before Nasir Hossain’s 45 helped Bangladesh to 305 before being bowled-out, with Lyon managing 7 wickets.
In response, Renshaw was caught early off Mustafizur, before Smith and Warner got together for a big 93-run stand. Smith managed 58, before he was knocked over by Taijul, before Handscomb joined Warner. The duo managed a 152-run stand in humid conditions, with the former managing 82 off 144.
However, Handscomb was run-out, before Warner brought up his slowest Test century till date. Warner scored a brilliant 123, but he was caught off Mustafizur.
Even though Maxwell and Cartwright got starts with 38 and 18 respectively, Mehedi Hasan Miraz accounted for both of their wickets, as the hosts crawled back into the game. Mustafizur Rahman was on fire, as he picked up the wickets of Wade and Lyon, while Agar managed a hard 22, to stretch Australia’s total to 377.
With a trail of 72 runs, Bangladesh were baffled when they returned to bat, as Cummins struck early in the innings. Lyon took the wickets of Tamim, Kayes and Shakib, as the hosts were reduced to 43-5.
In deep deep trouble, Bangladesh’s innings was rescued yet again by Sabbir Rahman and Mushfiqur Rahim. The duo fought hard, but Rahman was stumped off Lyon on 24 to give Bangladesh another setback.
Rahim was joined by Haque, as the skipper battled hard with his 103-ball 31. He was supported by Haque’s 29, but Cummins and Lyon struck yet again to further push Bangladesh into trouble.
Lyon cleaned up the tail, as Mehedi Hasan Miraz’s unbeaten 14 helped Bangladesh stretch their target to 86 after being bowled out for 157. Lyon picked up 6 in the innings, and 13 in the game!
David Warner was dismissed early in the chase by Mustafizur for 8, before Renshaw and Smith tried to get the chase done quickly. Australia attacked, and thus lost the wickets of Renshaw and Smith for 22 and 16, before Maxwell’s unbeaten 17-ball 25 and Handscomb’s 14-ball 16 helped the Kangaroos chase it down in 15.3 overs.
Australia managed a face-saving victory thanks to the brilliance of Nathan Lyon, who also won the Player of the Match award for his 13-wicket haul.
Moreover, he was named the Player of the Series alongside David Warner, as he managed 22 wickets in the 2-match series, while Warner scored 2 tons in testing conditions of Bangladesh.
The Aussies are now due to tour India with their limited-overs leg of the tour starting later this month. The Kangaroos will be helpful of carrying this momentum into the India tour, which might be very crucial before the Ashes.
