USA stun Bangladesh again, clinch historic T20I series

USA stunned Bangladesh for the second time in three days as they notched up a thrilling six-run victory in the second T20I in Houston and took the three-match series 2-0. 

It is a historic day for USA cricket as they registered their first-ever series win over a Test-playing team. 

This is the USA's second consecutive T20I series win and they have been unbeaten in their last six completed matches in this format.

Ranked 10 places behind Bangladesh in T20Is, the USA will now be massively confident going into a home T20 World Cup.

Chasing a middling 145, Bangladesh were off to the worst possible beginning to their innings as Saurabh Netravalkar took a brilliant return catch during his follow-through to get rid of Soumya Sarkar in the first over.

Tanzid Hasan, into the side for Litton Das, started well with a four and a six but Jessy Singh struck in his first over to halt the former's progress. Tanzid made 19 off 15.

Despite the loss of two wickets fairly early in the innings, the visitors were well on course as captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and Towhid Hridoy added 48 off 37 for the third wicket to help them gain control.

But the well-set Shanto (36 off 34) was run out after a miscommunication with Hridoy. Hridoy (25 off 21), who held the key after Shanto's dismissal, was sent back by Corey Anderson.

Shadley van Schalkwyk, fast bowler of South African descent, dismissed Mahmudullah and Jaker Ali in consecutive overs cheaply to help the USA get back into the game.

Shakib (30 off 23) threatened to take the game away from the hosts but Khan sent him back to the hut to leave Bangladesh reeling.

Khan and Netravalkar bowled two superb overs at the back end as Bangladesh were left with a stiff job of scoring 12 off the final over with just one wicket in hand. 

Rishad Hossain then hit Khan for a boundary to take the equation down to seven off four but failed to get the ball over the keeper's head the next ball. The ball kissed the bat on its way through to the USA captain Patel and it was game over for Bangladesh. 

Bangladesh limited the USA to 144-6 in the first innings of the second T20I of the three-match series at the Prairie View Cricket Complex in Houston on Thursday. 

USA openers Steven Taylor and Monank Patel made a decent start as they added 44 off 6.4 overs for the first wicket. 

Left-handed Taylor played some glorious shots, including maximums off Bangladesh's premier bowlers Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman. 

Leg-spinner Rishad Hossain (two for 21) struck twice right after the powerplay to send back Taylor, who was looking good on 31 and the big-hitting Andries Gous. 

Aaron Jones (35 off 34) and Patel (42 off 38) spent some time in the middle but could not quite accelerate as much as they wanted.

USA scored only 59 runs in the middle overs (7-15) despite losing only two wickets and this was the reason why they could not manage a bigger score.

The hosts could only score 43 off the final five overs.

The left-arm pace duo of Mustafizur and Shoriful Islam shared four wickets between them.