DHAKA, May 18, 2025 (BSS)- Bangladesh sought more redemptions to sweep the two-match T20 International series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as they take on the hosts for the second and final match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium tomorrow (Monday).

The match, which starts at 9 PM (Bangladesh Time), will be aired live on T Sports. 

The visiting Bangladesh won the first match by 27 runs, but how they won against a side termed as a minnow was not entirely convincing.

The UAE fought neck-to-neck with Bangladesh till the 18th over and at one phase, they looked favourite to win the game.

The pacers, as usual, cracked open the game by stifling the inexperienced UAE batters in the middle overs to ensure that Parvez Hossain Emon's brilliant century wouldn't go in vain.

Emon, who blasted a 54 ball-100 by rewriting several records for Bangladesh, guided the side to 191-7. It may look imposing one but Bangladesh could have scored 20/30 runs more had they finished the game well. It's an area that needs urgent improvements, according to Captain Liton Das.

"It was a good total. The wicket was very good for batting and the way Emon batted was outstanding," Liton said after the first match. "But we have to finish better. We couldn't score much in the last three overs."
Fast bowlers Hasan Mahmud, Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Mustafizur Rahman then shared seven wickets amongst them to bring Bangladesh back into the contest. 

"I know my bowlers, anytime they can come back. But at the same time, the UAE batters played well. Credit goes to them for the way they batted in the middle overs. We have to focus on our bowling as well," Liton said.

"The way everyone bowled and the calmness they showed is excellent. In the middle, it looked a bit 50-50, but the way all the bowlers bowled in the middle, it was amazing."

A victory in the second and final match and a series sweep against UAE was always expected, but Bangladesh needs a dominating victory to prepare them fully for the five-match T20 series in Pakistan.

Liton earlier said the series will give them an idea about their progress in certain areas. 

"Of course, our priority is to win both matches," Liton said. "But at the same time, we want to see the progress in the areas we've been working on recently."

Bangladesh emphasized their power-hitting in the powerplay. While thanks to Emon, they did considerably well in the first powerplay, the last powerplay didn't go as planned, largely due to losing some wickets in quick succession.

Still Emon didn't curb his aggression and brought up his century off just 53 balls to become the second T20 centurion for Bangladesh after Tamim Iqbal. While his 53 ball-century is the fastest by a Bangladeshi batter in T20 International, in Domestic circuit he also has the record of hitting fastest century (42 ball-century) by a Bangladeshi batter.

By winning the first match, Bangladesh maintained a trend of not losing any game to UAE so far. The victory in the second game would give them their fifth straight win against this opposition and also a second series sweep on the trot.

Bangladesh squad: Liton Das (captain), Mahedi Hasan, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain, Jaker Ali Anik, Rishad Hossain, Tanvir Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Nahid Rana, and Shoriful Islam.

UAE squad: Muhammad Waseem (captain), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma, Asif Khan, Dhruv Parashar, Ethan D' Souza, Haider Ali, Matiullah Khan, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Muhammad Zuhaib, Rahul Chopra, Saghir Khan, Sanchit Sharma and Simranjeet Singh.