Bangladesh Vs Afghanistan Played at Abu Dhabi
Bangladesh 249/7 ( MahmudullahRiad 74 , ImrulKayes 72 ,Liton K Das 41, Mushfiqur Rahim 33 , AftabAlam 3/54 , MujiburRahman 1/35 ,Rashid Khan 1/46 ) beat Afghanistan 246 /7 ( MahmudullahShaidi 71, Mohammad Shehjad 53, Ashgar Afghan 39, Mohammad Nabi 38, Mustafiz 2/44 and Mashrafee 2/62) by 3 Runs
Man of the Match: MahmudullahRiad
In a nail biting, nerve wrecking photo finish Mashrafee Tiger squad just got their nose in front of brave Afghanistan winning by 3 runs. It was a brilliant Mustafiz( The Fizz) defending a last ball 8 runs Afghanistan target of winning in the last six balls . Fizz had his legs cramped. He could hardly run in and bowl .Yet he bowled clever change of pace and cutters and won the match for Bangladesh. The great win of Bangladesh earned them virtual semi finals against Pakistan on 26 September for winning a berth against mighty India sitting pretty there winning back to back matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is sad that the most consistent team of the tournament, and very impressive Afghanistan failed to get their acts together at the dying stage of the match. Well done Afghans, you must have made your country proud.
In the desert heat, Bangladesh played three matches over the last four days meeting Afghanistan twice and India once. Plagued with injury to three of the five key players and losing Tamim Bangladesh was in desperate situation .ImrulKayes and SoumyaSarkar had to fly from home for back up. On the day again Bangladesh started disastrously looking down the barrel at 87/5 by the 21st over. Mahmudullah came to bat with tried and tested but often over looked Imrul Kayes with team fighting with back to the wall. The two wonderful servants of Bangladesh cricket batted superbly first steadying the rocking boat and then pacing their innings when required. The great sixth wicket partnership of 128 runs between these two seasoned campaigners worked through great spells of mystery bowler Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi. Bangladesh produced a fighting score of 249/7, which at one stage looked improbable after Nazmul Shanto, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfique and Shakib were back in the dug out. Mushfique and Shakib committed suicide getting run out .Shanto and Mithun looked pretty ordinary. Mahmudullah Riad produced a top quality aggressive innings of 74 and his partner Kayes scored 72. We thought Kayes should have been in the side from the start especially after Tamim got injured he should have been immediately flown in. Well it was better late than never. Bangladesh for the first time got out of the jinx of Afghanistan spin attack.
250 on the easy paced Abu Dhabi wicket was not beyond the reach for the rapidly improving Afghanistan team producing consistent cricket in the tournament. But all Bangladeshi bowlers bowled consistently well. Mohammad Shehjad at the top played another useful innings of 51. But the innings were held together by a smooth and steady partnership of Mahmudullah Shahidi (71) and Ashghar Afghan (39). Great warrior Mashrafee in his second spell stranded the Afgahns getting rid of two set batsmen and reaching his great milestone of 250 ODI wickets. Afghan innings were put on hold. Yet brave Nabi regained the momentum with his quick fire 38 striking two hefty sixes. Great that Shakib could send him back when he was looking to take away the match. Afghanistan required only 8 runs to win in the last over with 4 wickets still at hand. Mustafiz was hobbling with cramp. Yet he howled a great last over taking wicket of Rashid Khan with his second ball and restricting Afghans to 246 /7 still 3 runs away from the target. His wonderful change of pace and slow cutters won the crucial match for Bangladesh. Now, they will meet Pakistan for a virtual semi final against Pakistan to decide which team plays against India in the final. Our heart goes for brave Afghans who played great cricket all the way in this Asia. They lost two close matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh and now go back.
It was great to see that Bangladesh could finally work out a formula how to win against Afghanistan. They still have to sort out their top order batting. May be Soumya will be given another go against Pakistan.
BDST: 1056 HRS, SEP 24, 2018
AH
