Cricket Highlights, 17 July: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan (2nd T20I)

Bangladesh vs Afghanistan (2nd T20I)

After conquering the visiting Afghanistan with the ball, the Tigers also showed great skill with the bat. In the last T20I, Rashid Khan’s team was defeated by a margin of 6 wickets. They lost the first match by 2 wickets. The host Bangladesh has won a series for the first time in this edition against the Afghans.

On Sunday (July 16) in the rain-hit Sylhet International Stadium, Afghans batted first and collected 117 runs, losing 7 wickets in the scheduled 17 overs. The Tigers’ target was 119 runs in the DLS method. Because after 7.2 overs, the match was stopped for one and a half hours as the rain interrupted. After that, the match was reduced by 3 overs to 17 overs. However, Bangladesh lost 4 wickets and won the game with 5 balls in hand.  

On this day, the Tigers got off to a great start in the opening pair coming down to the run chase. Afif Hossain and Litton Das returned to the dressing room after being victimized by Mujeeb Ur Rahman after forming a partnership of 67 runs. Of course, the credit should be given to the fielder Rashid standing at the cover. The Afghan captain flew like a hawk and took a great catch with one hand. Litton scored 35 runs off 36 balls, hitting 6 fours.

After his departure, Afif also could not settle at the crease. He gave away a catch in the hands of Karim Janat while trying to play Mujeeb over deep midwicket. Afif scored 24 runs off 20 balls with 2 sixes. In the 10th over of the innings, Mujeeb sent off the two openers with a gap of 3 balls.

Bangladesh lost the third wicket for the team’s 76 runs. Najmul Hossain Shanto, who was in great form a few days ago, was also unsuccessful today. He was bowled by Azmatullah Omarzai after scoring only 4 runs off 6 balls. The hosts could have secured the victory in the fourth wicket.  

However, the hero of the previous match, Towhid Hridoy, was caught at mid-off while trying to send Omarzai’s delivery out of the boundary. His partnership of 31 runs broke with Shakib Al Hasan with that. Towhid left the field scoring 19 runs off 17 balls with 1 four and 1 six. Shakib completed the rest with Shamim Hossain. hitting 1 six and 1 four, Shakib scored 18 from 11 balls and Shamim remained unbeaten with 7 runs from 7 balls. Among the Afghan bowlers, Mujeeb and Omarzai took 2 wickets each.

Earlier, Tiger captain Shakib had won the toss and decided to field first. Pacer Taskin Ahmed gave Bangladesh a great start at the beginning of the match. Coming into the attack, he dismissed two Afghan openers in his first two overs. In the fifth ball of the opening of the innings, Taskin’s short-length ball was pulled by Rahmanullah Gurbaz and the Afghan opener had to leave the crease as the bowl went up high getting a top edge. Stepping forward, Taskin himself palmed the ball. Gurbaz returned to the dressing room after scoring 8 runs off 5 balls.

Hazratullah Zazai then tried to punch Taskin’s ball in the fourth ball of the third over and handed over the catch to wicketkeeper Litton. The Afghans lost 2 wickets for just 16 runs. After coming to the crease, Mohammad Nabi and Ibrahim Zadran started to lead the team towards something good. But their pair could not get more than 32 runs.

The match was stopped for more than an hour and a half due to rain. The two batsmen played started to attack and score well with the bat as the overs were reduced. But they could not stay at the crease due to the aggressive bowling of the Tiger bowlers. Nabi (16) was caught behind by Mustafizur Rahman’s slower delivery in the tenth over of the innings. 

In the next over, Ibrahim was caught by Afif at long on trying to play an attacking shot off Shakib. 22 runs from 27 balls came from his bat. After dismissing Ibrahim on the first ball of the over, Shakib bowled Najibullah Zadran (5) on the last ball. As a result, the Afghans lost the fifth wicket for the team’s 67 runs.

On the sixth wicket, however, Omarzai and Karim brought up 42 runs for the team off 29 balls. Omarzai got out with 25 runs off 21 balls and Karim got out with 20 runs off 15 balls. Finally, Rashid Khan came in and hit a huge six off 3 balls. Their collection stood at 117 runs with that.

Among the Bangladeshi bowlers, Taskin Ahmed took the maximum number of 3 wickets at the cost of 33 runs in 4 overs. Besides, Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman took 2 wickets each.

Bangladesh vs Afghanistan Scoreboard

Afghanistan – 116/7 (17.0)

Bangladesh – 119/4 (16.1)

Result – Bangladesh won by 6 wickets (DLS Method)

Player of the match – Shakib Al Hasan

Player of the series – Shakib Al Hasan

Shakib Al Hasan

Bangladesh vs Afghanistan Playing Xis