Winning a 200-run chase in a T20 may be a big story. Such a picture is regular in recent T20s, but it is always a telling event. As happened yesterday, Monday, at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Many telling matches have taken place at this historic stadium. Among them, the Bangladesh vs. United Arab Emirates match is sure to have a special place.
Defeats to partner countries are nothing new for Bangladesh. Last year, the United States had a record of losing a series. However, Monday’s match put Bangladesh cricket in a different kind of shame.
Batting first, Bangladesh’s score was 205 runs. On the other hand, the United Arab Emirates won the match with one ball in hand. Along with this, the cricket world also found out about a new statistic. For the first time in T20, an ICC partner country has won a match by chasing a target of more than 200 given by a Test playing country.
The previous highest total by an ICC associate against a Test playing nation was 191 runs. Afghanistan chased down this target set by Zimbabwe in 2015 and won the match. And yesterday, the United Arab Emirates surpassed Bangladesh’s target of 206 runs. Naturally, this is also the highest total by an ICC associate against a full member.
Besides, this is the first time that a team has won by chasing more than 200 runs in a T20I match on the ground of the United Arab Emirates. Unfortunately, the previous record was also held by Bangladesh. In the 2022 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka had won by chasing down Bangladesh’s target of 184 runs with 4 balls to spare. The UAE cricketers surpassed that target yesterday.
