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Clinical Bangladesh seal T20I series
Bangladesh put up a clinical show with bat and ball to beat Afghanistan in the second T20I as well to clinch the series 2-0. Having lost the ODI series, the hosts have now bounced back in style to round off the all-format series in style.
Bangladesh made a very good start to the contest as Taskin Ahmed struck in the first over. Rahmanullah Gurbaz managed to get a top edge off successive deliveries. While he managed to fetch six runs on the first occasion, he wasn’t lucky the second time as the bowler managed to settle under the top edge to give Bangladesh the early breakthrough. Taskin struck in his second over as well and this time he managed to find the outside edge of the dangerous Hazratullah Zazai. The start ensured Bangladesh kept the run rate in the powerplay below six and then Afghanistan’s recovery was also halted by rain that reduced the contest to 17 overs per side.
When play did resume, Mohammad Nabi was handed two reprieves in a single over but failed to make it count with Mustafizur Rahman snaring him for a scratchy 21-ball 16. The procession continued as Shakib Al Hasan then struck twice in an over to stun the visitors and leave them reeling at 67/5. Azmatullah Omarzai and Karim Janat hit a boundary and a six each in successive overs to push the scoring rate but eventually Bangladesh closed out the innings in their favour to keep Afghanistan to a modest 116/7.
Bangladesh’s reply was in complete contrast to the one Afghanistan made. Litton Das faced the first ten deliveries in the chase and managed to find the boundary five times. In just three overs, Bangladesh had already knocked off 33 runs and were cruising in the chase. By the end of the powerplay, they had 54 and were favourites to close out the game in style. However, the scoring rate dipped from thereon and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman dismissed both the openers in a single over to give Afghanistan a fighting chance.
Their hopes went up a bit high when Azmatullah castled Najmul Shanto as the equation suddenly became trickier. Bangladesh needed 42 from 33 at that stage and one more wicket could have complicated matters. But Shakib came out all guns blazing and smashed two boundaries off Mujeeb and hammered Rashid Khan for a six in the following over to bury Afghanistan’s chances for good. In the end, the hosts got the job done with five balls to spare.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 116/7 in 17 overs (Azmatullah Omarzai 25; Taskin Ahmed 3/33, Shakib Al Hasan 2/15) lost to Bangladesh 119/4 in 16.1 overs (Litton Das 35; Azmatullah Omarzai 2/17) by six wickets