A much-improved Bangladesh defeated Afghanistan by eight runs in a group league encounter in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to maintain their aspirations of making it to the Asia Cup Super Fours.
In an attritional match where fortunes moved from side to side, Bangladesh needed to defeat Afghanistan after losing to Sri Lanka by six wickets and they did so with a team effort.
After limiting Bangladesh to 154/4 at the midway point, Afghanistan appeared to have the game within their grasp, before being dismissed for 146 in 20 overs.
Afghanistan had a rough start, but Azmatullah Omarzai’s 16-ball 30—a knock in which he took 20 runs from Saif Hassan’s 14th over of the innings—threatened to turn the tide.
But he was dismissed immediately after hitting Taskin Ahmed for a six in the 16th over, which meant that Afghanistan was out of the game. Rashid Khan (20) and A M Ghazanfar (0) were removed off consecutive balls by Mustafizur Rahman (3/28) in the penultimate over, bringing the match to a quick finish.
In addition to fielding brilliantly, Bangladesh controlled both powerplays, which helped them win. They first hammered 59 for no loss with the bat and held Afghanistan to a pitiful 27/2 with the ball.
Spinner Nasum Ahmed set the tone for Bangladesh as his opening ball of the innings skidded off the surface and struck Sediqullah Atal plumb in front. In the fifth over of the powerplay, the left-arm spinner from Bangladesh struck once more by trapping Ibrahim Zadran (5) leg-before.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz carried the innings at the top but received little support, with No. 4 Gulbadin Naib (16) also falling cheaply.
The match also saw the Afghan captain Rashid Khan (2/26) and his spin teammate Noor Ahmad (2/23) outsmart the Bangladeshi spinners Nasum (4-1-11-2) and Rishad Hossain (4-0-18-2) who had previously produced strong spells to restrict their opponents.
Bangladesh pushed the Tigers to 87 for one at the break thanks to a 31-ball 52 from opener Tanzid Hasan and his 63-run opening partnership with Saif Hassan (30).
However, with the help of Azmatullah Omarzai (3-0-19-1), the two Afghan spinners regained the upper hand by applying pressure with their precision and variety.
After a quiet start, Bangladesh had cranked up the pace of scoring when Tanzid hit four boundaries off Fazalhaq Farooqi in the third over. This came after they had survived a leg-before-appeal due to an umpire’s call.
Two of those fours were smashed down the ground past mid-on, and two came off edges that soared through.
Hassan demonstrated purpose in the following over from A M Ghazanfar by smashing a tremendous six down the ground, but Tanzid smashed two more remarkable sixes off the Afghan spinner in the sixth over: one that was lifted up off his pads over deep square leg, and another that soared over long on.
Rashid, the captain of Afghanistan, broke the partnership by crashing into the off-stump with a little low delivery that beat Saif’s sweep.
After ten overs, Bangladesh was still in cruise mode, but they were unable to do anything to counter the intense pressure from the Afghanistan spinners, who maintained tight lines and prevented the batsmen from freeing their arms.
