Improved Bangladesh pip Afghanistan in thriller to keep Asia Cup Group B wide open

A much-improved Bangladesh pipped Afghanistan by eight runs in a group league match to keep their hopes of reaching the Asia Cup Super Fours alive here on Tuesday.

Coming off a six-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh needed a win against Afghanistan, and they achieved it with a collective performance in an attritional contest wherein fortunes swung from one side to another.

At the halfway mark, Afghanistan seemed to have the game in their reach having restricted Bangladesh to 154 for five, but then they huffed and puffed before getting bowled out for 146 in 20 overs.

Azmatullah Omarzai threatened to turn the tables with his 16-ball 30, a knock in which he collected 20 runs off Saif Hassan’s 14th over of the innings to begin Afghanistan’s resurrection following a poor start.

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But he perished right after hitting Taskin Ahmed for a six in the 16th over, signalling the end for Afghanistan. The end came swiftly when Mustafizur Rahman (3/28) removed Rashid Khan (20) and AM Ghazanfar (0) in consecutive balls of the penultimate over.

Bangladesh fielded well, and more importantly, dominated both the powerplays which paved the way for their win, as they first raced to 59 for no loss in the first half and restricted Afghanistan to a poor 27 for two in the second.

The tone was set by Nasum Ahmed whose first delivery of the innings skidded off the surface and hit Sediqullah Atal in front of the pads. The left-arm Bangladesh spinner struck again in the powerplay when he trapped Ibrahim Zadran (5) leg-before in the fifth over.

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While Rahmanullah Gurbaz did the heavy lifting at the top, he found no support from the other end, as No. 4 Gulbadin Naib (16) too perished without making a mark.

The contest also marked Bangladesh spinners Nasum (4-1-11-2) and Rishad Hossain (4-0-18-2) outsmarting their Afghan counterparts, skipper Rashid Khan (2/26) and his spin colleague Noor Ahmad (2/23), who had earlier produced impressive spells to restrict their opponent.

Bangladesh were bolstered by a 31-ball 52 from opener Tanzid Hasan and his 63-run opening stand with Saif Hassan (30), powering the Tigers to 87 for one at the halfway mark.

But the two Afghan spinners, well backed by Azmatullah Omarzai (3-0-19-1), pulled things back with their accuracy and variations and put pressure back on Bangladesh.

Bangladesh had picked up the scoring rate after a sedate start when Tanzid got four boundaries off Fazalhaq Farooqi in the third over, in between surviving a leg-before appeal courtesy umpire’s call.

Two of those fours came off edges that flew through and two were smacked down the ground past mid-on.

In the next over from AM Ghazanfar, Hassan showed intent smashing a huge six down the ground but it was Tanzid who hit more spectacular sixes off the Afghan spinner in the sixth over, one that sailed over long on and other that was picked up from his pads over deep square leg.

The partnership was broken by Afghanistan captain Rashid, whose delivery kept a little low and beat Saif’s sweep to crash into the off-stump.

Bangladesh were still in cruise mode after 10 overs but they could not do much in the face of acute pressure from the Afghanistan spinners who kept tight lines and denied any room for the batters to free up their arms.