Nathan Lyon ended the match with career-best figures of 13/154
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Australia spinner Nathan Lyon troubled Bangladesh once again as he took a six-wicket haul to not only guide his side to a seven-wicket win on the fourth day in Chittagong, but also a 1-1 series draw.
Lyon’s match figures of 13/154 are the best by an Australian spinner in Asia in Test history as he surpassed teammate Steve O’Keefe, who took 12/70 against India in Pune earlier this year.
The 29-year-old took a total of 22 wickets in the series, which put him in a tie for second on the all-time list of most wickets taken in a two-Test series.
Starting off the day on 377/9, Australia failed to add any runs to their overnight score as Lyon was dismissed by Mustafizur Rahman for a duck.
Despite Australia being bowled out for 377, it still gave them a useful 72-run lead.
Mustafizur was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets, while Mehidy Hasan Miraz snapped up three, and Shakib Al Hasan and Taijul Islam chipped in with one wicket apiece.
Trailing by 72 runs, Bangladesh lost Soumya Sarkar early on as he was caught by Matt Renshaw at first slip off the bowling of Pat Cummins for nine runs.
Lyon and O’Keefe then proceeded to rip through Bangladesh’s top and middle order, leaving them reeling at 43/5 in the 20th over.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman stemmed the bleeding with a 54-run partnership, which also gave Bangladesh the lead, before Sabbir was stumped by Matthew Wade off the bowling of Lyon for 24.
Rahim went on to make 31 before he was caught behind off the bowling of Cummins.
Mominul Haque managed to make 29, but once he was dismissed, Bangladesh crumbled and ended up being skittled out for 157, which left Australia needing 86 runs to win.
Lyon was the most successful bowler with six wickets, while O’Keefe and Cummins took two wickets apiece.
Chasing 86 to win, Australia opener David Warner fell in the fifth over as he was caught by Sarkar at deep midwicket off the bowling of Mustafizur for eight runs.
Just as Australia were beginning to rebuild their innings, captain Steve Smith was caught behind off the bowling of Taijul for 16.
The very next over, Australia lost another wicket as Renshaw was caught behind off the bowling of Shakib for 22.
However, that was to be Bangladesh’s last taste of success as Glenn Maxwell and Peter Handscomb finished things off with an unbeaten 39-run partnership.
Maxwell concluded the match on 25 off 17 balls, which included two boundaries and two sixes, while Handscomb remained undefeated on 16 off 14 deliveries, which included two boundaries.
Glenn Maxwell (left) and Peter Handscomb celebrate after leading Australia to victory
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Mustafizur, Shakib and Taijul claimed one wicket each.
Rahim was disappointed to have lost the match, and said: “Credit to Australia. The wicket was pretty good to bat on, we missed out in the first innings. That’s what cost us. We should’ve got 350 at least. Win or lose, there are a lot of areas of improvements. Our batsmen made things tough for themselves, hopefully we’ll learn.”
Smith was glad that his side bounced back from their loss in the first Test, and said: “We played some good cricket, at times. To restrict them to what we did in the first innings was great. There wasn’t a great deal in the surface for Lyon, but he was remarkable. Credit to Bangladesh, they made us fight throughout the series. For us, just those batting collapses have become a regular occurrence. That’s something we have to rectify. It’s nice to get the 1-1 draw.”
Lyon was named Man of the Match, and said: “Really good wickets to bowl on, especially for spinners. Special bowling performance by our group today. It was important to come up in these conditions and stand up. Bangladesh are a classy side, it was always going to be tough. The goal is to just win games for Australia.”