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Bangladesh national cricket team missed out on winning their first-ever bilateral series over Afghanistan as they were thumped by eight wickets by Afghanistan in the second and final Twenty20 international of the two-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Batting first, Bangladesh produced a lacklustre batting performance to put only 115-9 on board. Afghanistan chased down the total with ease as Hazratullah Zazai scored an unbeaten 59 to take the visitors home with 14 balls in hand.
After winning the toss, Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah Riyad opted to bat first. The day started with the teams observing a minute of silence for Australian legends Shane Warne and Rodney Marsh, who passed away on Friday.
Munim Shahriar, playing his second T20I, was gone in the second over for four off 10 deliveries when he chipped the ball to Sharafuddin Ashraf off Mohammad Nabi’s bowling.
Liton Das, who had played a brilliant knock of 60 runs in the first match, failed to repeat his heroics as he was out for 13 off 10 deliveries.
Both Mohammad Naim and Shakib Al Hasan struggled for runs in the middle, eventually going for 13 off 19 and nine off 15 deliveries respectively.
Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim were the only batsmen who managed to go past 20 for Bangladesh, but none could convert their starts. Mushfiq was gone for 30 off 25, while Mahmudullah scored 21 off 14. No contribution from the late-middle order meant that Bangladesh could only muster 115-9.
Fazalhaq Farooqi and Azmatullah Omarzai picked up three wickets each for the Afghans, with Nabi and Rashid Khan picking up one each.
In reply, Bangladesh had a good start as Shak Mahedi Hasan sent back Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the second over.
But that was that for Bangladesh as they missed three catches to let Zazai and Usman Ghani put together a 99-run stand for the second wicket.
Ghani was eventually gone for 47 in the 16th over to Mahmudullah. But by then, the match was gone for Bangladesh.
Zazai, along with Darwish Rasooli, took the Afghans home with eight wickets in hand to level the series 1-1.
After the match, Mahmudullah admitted that they should have batted better.
“It was a good wicket to bat on, but not enough partnerships. I am very disappointed. It wasn’t a 150-run wicket, but 130 was gettable. I and Mushi could have scored a few more. Hopefully, we can come back strong,” the Bangladesh skipper said in the post-match presentation.
